Path of the Mando'ade
by The Nameless Scribe
Summary: What happens when you get a nerd and throw him heads over heels into his favorite universe? You get something dangerous. This is the story of Alan Warren. Have fun! (S.I. Warning) ON HIATUS
1. Why Sunscreen is Important

wChapter 1

/

Waking up on the beach can be a good thing in the right circumstances.

For example, the sound of the ocean crashing against the sand, a nice umbrella blocking the sun from burning your skin, a blanket protecting you from the sand itself, a nice cold drink waiting for you in the cooler and a nice book in your lap…

That is not how I woke up at all.

For one, there was no sound of the ocean as there wasn't an ocean in sight, just sand. Sand as far as the eye can see and then I was sure there was sand beyond that. There was no umbrella to keep the sun off me, in fact, as if to make up for this mistake, the universe has decided to be the opposite of helpful and instead stick another giant fireball in the sky, just for good measure in case I didn't think it was already way too fucking hot. As far as I was aware, there was no blanket. All I had on me were the articles of clothing I was wearing when I went out last night. That is, a nice olive green T-Shirt, a pair of jeans, my grandfathers cross necklace, my phone with a full chargem though no signal damn it, my wallet, and my cowboy boots. No hat, no jacket, no blanket, and most certainly no cold drink waiting for me in the non existent cooler, much less a nice book to pass the time.

Now, of these observations, several things stood out to me besides the blistering heat and the coarse sand. Firstly, the two suns. Last I checked, the earth had a single fireball that it rotated around. Secondly, I don't remember hiking my way into a god forsaken desert.

Groaning at what feels like a hangover, I slowly crawl my way to my feet and unsteadily dust myself off. Where in the hell was I? I don't live anywhere near a desert, and none of my friends are nearly rich enough to send me here. None of them are that cruel either.

Except Jordan. He would do it if he had the money. He's an asshole like that.

That being said, he doesn't, and I'm still here.

Alright, ignoring the second, slightly smaller sun that I must be hallucinating, I start walking. First thing on the agenda, civilization. With civilization comes water and food. Maybe shelter if I'm lucky enough to find a selfless soul.

So I walk.

And trip.

I fucking hate sand.

/

Two hours.

Two fucking hours.

Two hours of walking with nothing to show for it but a sunburn and shoes full of sand.

Still resolutely ignoring the second sun hanging in the sky, I walk. I had already taken off my shirt to wrap it around my head to block some of the sun, leaving my undershirt as the only thing blocking my back from being cooked.

I was thirsty, my headache had yet to subside, I was covered in sweat and sand, I felt like I was going to pass out, and I hated it all

So when I finally saw what looked like a person In the distance sitting atop some sort of animal, I didn't give it any question as I should have. Instead I ran at it.

You know, like an idiot.

Screaming at the top of my sand abused throat, I tried to get its attention, and its attention I did receive.

And I promptly wished I hadn't once I got close enough to see it.

Originally I had assumed the thing he was riding was some sort of truck or tank considering the size. If I was in New Mexico I would have bet on the truck considering the parties I've been to, but as I drew closer, I realized that it was much bigger than I was expecting and covered in fur.

Which, last time I checked, neither tanks nor trucks have.

The rider was a humanoid, but it was familiar in a way only a Star Wars fan would have recognized.

The sand colored clothing, the head wraps, the mouth guard and goggles.

I was running straight at a Tusken Raider.

A Tusken Raider who just pulled out a rifle.

"SHIT!" I yell as I try to stop, Adrenalin pumping through my exhausted body. Unfortunately when you're running, even at the rather wimpy pace I was setting, stopping on a dime and then attempting to change direction on sand was recipe for a fall.

Fortunately, it was at that moment that the Raider decided to shoot, missing me my inches as the bullet hit the ground by my head.

"Jesus!" I shout as I roll to the side and try to get up. Okay, if I run, chances are he'll shoot me. As stupid as it sounds, charging him is my best chance at survival. Maybe I can get his gun or something?

Getting to my feet, I charge the Bantha the Raider was riding, getting just in front of it so he couldn't see me. Roaring in outrage, the Tusken jumps down from his perch and hangs the gun on his back. Drawing his club, the Tusken raised it above his head and seemed to shout out a warning, though I ignored it and charged at him.

"Yeah? Well Fuck you too!" I yell as I duck under his first swing and tackle him to the ground.

Straddling the struggling Sand Person, I knock his club thing from his hand, a gaffi stick if I remembered right, and start choking him.

Normally, I wasn't a violent person. I was the type of guy to apologize to you if you bump into me. I hated conflict most of the time.

However, if someone started something and there was no way to talk it out, I also knew how to defend myself.

In this situation, it was him or me.

I personally like living.

So as I choked him out, the twin suns above me beating against my back, I felt little remorse as he slowly stopped struggling, finally laying still.

Standing up, I fall back and simply sit in the hot sand, the only shade is that of the Bantha beside me.

Shaking my head, I stand up again and pick up the discarded Gaffi Stick and the rifle. Carefully storing them back on the Bantha, I take the dead Raider and I start stripping him.

It's not like he'll need his clothes now.

Putting the clothes on, I quickly realized why the Sand People wore this stuff. It actually cooled me down a little. Not enough to keep me alive for any long period of time, but enough to be noticeable. Glancing around the Bantha to see a water bladder hanging off the saddle.

I would worry about germs when I wasn't in threat of dying.

Guzzling down over half the bottle, I carefully set it back where I found it before wrapping the Tuskens mask around my face, the goggles blocking the sun and the mouth grille keeping sand out of my mouth.

Kicking the sides of the Bantha to get it moving, I grin slightly. We might actually be getting somewhere.

/

It took another hour before we saw civilization.

In that time period I feel as if I had come to terms with the fact that this was in fact not a prank or a dream.

It still didn't prepare me for seeing aliens.

Not that I wasn't expecting the, I had just killed a Tusken Raider and was riding his Bantha towards civilization, but somehow seeing them… seeing the different species…

It made it more real.

There were Rodians like Greedo, there were Humans, there were Dugs, There were Toydarians, and about a dozen other species I couldn't identify.

It was crazy.

Going to the watering hole, I hop off the bantha, making sure to keep my supplies and weapons with me and allowed the Bantha a chance to get something to drink.

Unwrapping the bottom portion of my mask, letting my mouth grille to hang loosely, I glance around at the different aliens staring at me, or more importantly, my getup and the fact that I just showed them what was under a Raiders clothing.

"What? You never seen a Tusken Raider before?" I ask sarcastically as I take another swig of water. Immediately they started to disperse, whispering to themselves along the way.

Okay, first things first. Where the fuck am I? Secondly, when the fuck am I?

Leaving the bottom portion of the mask off, though keeping the top portion on to keep the suns out of my eyes, I start walking through town, leaving the Bantha at the watering hole.

It should be fine.

Walking through town was an experience. For one thing, everyone kept staring at me. For another, aliens.

It would take some time before I got used to it…

The aliens part. I could ignore the stares.

So doing just that, ignoring the stairs, I try to keep an eye out for anything resembling a cantina. If I could find one, I could just hang around and listen in to find out where exactly I was. Finding out when would be a bigger issue, but the where is more important right now.

It took me about fifteen minutes to find the Cantina, unfortunately that was also when I ran into trouble as a big hand reached out of an alley way and grabbed me by the shoulder, yanking me in.

Three beings stood there, each of which a different species, One a devil looking humanoid with red skin and horns, one a big buff dude with a fat chin, though covered in muscle everywhere else, and the third a Dug. It almost sounded like a bad joke.

"Hey, hey, hey… what do we have here?" The devil asks with a smirk on his face.

"It looks like a sand person, Gee." the big guy sayswith a smirk.

"Choy? Sa do sando people do unko?" the Dug laughs.

"Look guys, I'm not looking for trouble..." I grimace as I stand from where I had fallen.

"Well that's too bad, Tusken… Because we are." The Devil, Daveronian I remember, says with an almost evil grin. "We don't really like your kind."

"Yeah! Always causin' us good folks trouble, now we're here to cause you trouble!" The big guy, the Houk from what I remember, said with a laugh.

With that being said, the Dug lunges at me with a growl, his feet aimed at me as if to grab me or kick me, though considering how they walk, I honestly had no idea which one it was.

On the bright side, I had kept the Gaffi stick on me and that Dug was looking like a baseball.

Batting the flying lunatic away from me, I duck under the Daveronians swing and swung my club into his gut, winding him before I tossed him aside. Suddenly, the Houk came from behind and picked my up in a massive bear hug.

"Haha! I gotcha now!"

Swinging my club down as hard as I could, I was greatful the Houk was much taller than me as it kept my own genitals from getting in the crossfire.

"Ugh..." The Houk groaned in pain as he dropped me, hands going to his crotch before I swung the Gaffi Stick as hard as I could against his skull, knocking him out.

Glancing back at the Daveronian, I point the end of the gaffi stick at him.

"Take off your clothes."

"E-Excuse me?" The Daveronian stammers out.

"You heard me, take off your clothes. I'm not walking around in this getup anymore after this, and you're closer to my size than the Houk or the Dug." I explain. "And I'd hurry up, unless you want to know how your friend over there feels personally."

Stripping off his clothes a bit faster after that, I take off the rest of the Raider mask and cloak, leaving me in my shirt, jeans, and boots. Once he had finished, I hit him upside the head with my new favorite stick and gathered up all of their money and weapons.

Leaving me with a nice little stash.

Leaving my jeans on, I take off my own shirt and change into his shirt before putting on his rather nice rust colored jacket. Clipping the Daveronians blaster to the hidden holster in his jacket, the Gaffi stick to my belt, and the Tusken Rifle strapped to my back, I carefully glance out of the alley to make sure nobody was around before I head back towards the cantina.

Let's try this again, shall we?

/

Entering the Cantina was pretty simple, noone asked questions, and most everyone seemed to ignore me. So, sliding up to the bar, I call over the bartender and start asking questions.

"What do ya need, Stranger?" the bartender asks once I call him over. A human it looked like, but looks can be deceiving.

"A nice drink and some information." I reply as I pull out some of the money the I borrowed from the three idiots outside. Passing him the small stack of coins, I raise my eyebrow at him.

Once I get a nod, I continue.

"Where am I? I'm afraid I crash landed out in the middle of the desert after my Nav computer crashed. The Sleemo who sold the thing to me said it was top of the line… Last time I deal with a Daveronian.."

"Mos Espa." the Bartender replied as he took the money and passed me an amber liquid. Well, that was one question answered. Now for the when.

"Anything interesting happening soon? As much as I'd love to get off this dustball, I'm a sucker for some good entertainment." I ask as I take a sip of the drink. Hmm… Alcoholic, but somewhat fruity. Not bad.

"If you like Podracing, the Boonta Eve Classic is in a few days." The Bartender shrugs. "Most everyone's got their bets on Sebulba to win."

"Oh? Who else is in the running?"

"Well, we've got Aldar Beedow, Ratts Tyrell, Mawhonic, Dud Bolt, Clegg Holdfast, Ebe E. Endocott, Gasgano, Boles Roor, Teemto Pagalies, Elan Mak, Mars Guo, Ark 'Bumpy' Roose, Neva Kee, Wan Sandage, Ben Quadinaros, Ody Mandrell, and a kid named Anakin Skywalker. You willing to make a bet?"

If I remember right… This was the one where Ani wins his freedom and leaves Tattooine…

I needed to find them.

But first…

"I'll make a bet on Skywalker winning." I say as I take half of my bag's contents of coins and hand it to the Bartender.

"Hmm… Not bad." He says after counting it. "If Skywalker wins, just come back here to collect your winnings."

"Perfect. Now, last question…" I say as I pass another generous sum over the counter.

"Have you heard anything of a group of offworlders roaming around? Two humans, an astromech, and a gungan?"

/

Looking at the Skywalkers residence, I am struck with a sense of nervousness.

What was I doing? What kind of idiot was I? What exactly was the plan here? Walk up to the door and knock?

Yes, excuse me. Ms. Skywalker, can I talk to Mr. Jedi? Oh yes, Mr. Jedi! I know the future despite the fact that every Jedi on the Council is having issues with that particular trick!

Yeah… that would go well.

No, what I needed was a token of gratitude or to just follow them at a distance. The second option not being that smart an idea.

So a token of some sort. Maybe a new ship? I'd have to make a few bets… Perhaps I can free Shmi? Again with the bets, but I could probably make a few bets for cash and then use the money as something to bet against when betting for Shmi.

I'd have to make it look good, maybe sweeten the deal to get Watto on board. In the end though, I know the outcome, so I'd be making a decent profit if I played my cards right.

Nodding, I turn to head back to the Cantina. Maybe they know where I can find a good nights sleep before the big race?

Then I walked into a wall of muscle.

Looking up, I see the Houk from earlier.

To his left was the Dug and to his right was the Daveronian.

"Umm… Hey guys? Nice meeting you here..."

"You done messed up." The Houk growls as he grabs me by my collar, lifting me into the air.

"Look… guys, in my defense, you were the ones who assaulted me. I was just defending myself." I try to explain as the Houk dragged me behind one of the wells before throwing me on the ground.

Pointing a blaster at me, the Daveronian gestures for the Dug to grab my weapons.

"Shut up, offworlder. You took our clothes, our money, and our weapons. Now we're intent on getting it back… with interest."

"Umm… I kind of used most of it?" I shrug as I prop myself up where I was thrown.

"HOW DO YOU- It's fine… we're okay… Just let it out, Gee." the Daveronian starts before attempting to calm himself down. After a few moments, he points the gun at my head. "Well… considering you spent our money, we'll just take it out of your head?"

"Wait!" I yell, covering my face with my hands. "How about a bet?"

"Excuse me?" The Daveronian, Gee, asks as he lowers the blaster slightly.

"The Boonta Eve Classic." I explain as I slowly scoot myself back. "If you win the bet, you get to take me in front of the Hutts and put me on trial or whatever you deem fit. Killing me, selling me, whatever. If I win the bet, you guys let me off the hook. Sounds good?"

"An interesting offer, I admit." Gee says before aiming the blaster at my head again. "But what's to stop us from killing you now?"

"Because I bet Sebulba won't even finish the race." I grin.

"You're crazy. Sebulba's won every race since he's started on Malastare." the Houk laughs.

"Then you won't mind me raising the stakes." I counter. "I assume you have a ship between the three of you?"

At the nod I continue.

"If Sebulba finishes the race, I'll find you the money I took from you and then some. After that, if you feel like it isn't enough, you can do whatever you want with me. If Sebulba doesn't finish… You let me off the hook and give me your ship."

After a moment of them staring at me like I was crazy, both the Dug and the Houk glance at each other before they burst out laughing.

"I admit, you've got spunk… I hate spunk." Gee sighs. "Fiiiine. It's a bet. If we win, you are our personal slave. If you win, you get our ship. Greb, give our friend his weapons back."

Nodding, the Houk tosses the Gaffi Stick and my rifle at me where I catch them uncerimoniously.

"Umm… before you guys go, can I have a holo image of your ship? Just so I know what I may lose?"

With a smirk, the Devil lookalike pulls a holo unit from his pocket and tosses it at me. Pressing the button reveals a decently sized freighter.

"The YV-666. The Devil's Dagger." The Horned alien laughs before he starts walking away. "Keep the holo, maybe it will give you some hope before you lose."

Well… I found my down payment with Watto.

I just wished I didn't have to deal with the Three Stooges to get it.

/

Okay… so a while back I had started a story similar to this. I ended up deleting it due to my own issues with the story. This is my second attempt at this story but this time it will be different.

Give me thoughts and stuff.

Next Chapter. Betting with Watto. The Boonta Eve Classic. Maul.

Ye.

Adios!

The Nameless Scribe


	2. I May Have a Gambling Problem

Chapter 2

/

Alrighty! Time to answer some questions!

Doraemax: He is not force sensitive! At all! He is just your average, ordinary, everyday, supernerd with a bunch of foreknowledge. The Foreknowledge is his advantage.

And technically, no. A spoken bet like that is not technically enforceable. However as you will no doubt find out, the MC is a bit of a cheat and he can bluff his way out of anything. Or he comes prepared to enforce the deals he makes.

He can also bluff.

A whole lotta bluffing and half truths.

Anyway, on with the story!

/

After a night of rest that was thankfully undisturbed, I was back at it and ready to make some more bets.

Which is why as soon as I had me some breakfast, I booked it as fast as I could to the racers pits and waited outside. As soon as Watto was done betting with Qui-Gon, he'd come outside and head to the stands.

So I stood there and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Maybe I should have savored my breakfast more? Perhaps ordered a cup of coffee, or the equivalent?

Okay, good. there's Anakin. That means Watto should be coming out pretty soon.

"Hey, kid!" I holler at Anakin. "Good luck out there!"

"Thanks!"

Shortly after the Chosen One entered the pits, Watto came buzzing out.

"Excuse me! Watto?" I call after him as he buzzes by me.

"Huh? What is it? Can't you see I'mma trying to geta to the race?"

"Just a last minute bet, if you're up to it?" I ask as I pull out the holo image from last night. Turning it on, I show him the Devils Dagger. "I bet my ship that Anakin Skywalker wins the race."

Staring at me a moment, he bursts out laughing.

Muttering something in Huttese that I assumed implied something about my intelligence, he smirks.

"Very well. And if he wins?"

"If he wins, you transfer ownership of Shmi Skywalker to me. If he loses, you get the ship." I explain with a shrug.

Buzzing backwards a moment, Watto growls at me. "The offworlder set you up to this didn't he? So sure of the boy winning he found someone to offer me another bet?! HA! Fine. I'll take the bet. Anything else, offworlder?"

"Just a small, secondary bet." I reply with a small shrug. "I bet that Sebulba won't even finish the race."

"HA! Hahahaha!" He laughs. "You must be crazy! And what are the stakes then, eh?"

Grinning, I lay out the ground rules.

/

As it turns out, get enough suckers in one place, and its possible to make a fortune.

Or at least… enough to get off this dustball if I didn't already have a plan.

By the time the race was over, with Anakin crashing Sebulba's pod in the last lap and scoring the win, I had made a bet with a fair few people and earned myself enough money to buy myself a ship, a red and white R4 Astromech unit, a yellow and white R3 astromech unit, A comm unit, a handheld holoprojector, a blaster carbine that looked suspiciously like a double barreled shotgun, some dudes jacket, a broad rimmed hat, three pounds of what I assumed was space weed, and of course, my new ship and Shmi Skywalker.

"Gentlemen." I greet as I enter the hanger they told me to come to. Behind me walked three Gamorreans to act as security until I've actually claimed the ship and my two astromechs.b

The Gamorreans stink to high heaven, but they work cheap and they're dumb as rocks.

Looking up at the maroon ship, I grinned. The ship itself was an interesting shape. It kind of looked like a Nerf gun if you took away the handle and stuck wings on the very back. It was also pretty damn big.

"You cheated." the Daveronian states. "I don't honor bets to cheaters."

"Cheating implies I did something to ensure the outcome. I did no such thing."

"You still knew what would happen, you knew Sebulba would crash. You gave us a suckers bet."

"I can neither confirm nor deny that. That being said, you made a deal. We made a bet that if Sebulba fails to finish the race, you guys let me off the hook and I get your ship." I say as I pull out a bag of part of my winnings and the jacket I took from him. "Here, as a sign of good faith, the amount of money I stole from you and your jacket."

Handing it over the money and the jacket, I put my hands on my hips and shrug.

"So… are we good?"

"Do you want me to squish him, Boss?" the Houk asks as he punches the palm of his hand. The Dug grinning and saying something in Huttese

Sighing, Gee shakes his head. "No Greb, He won the bet. As much as I hate it, he played us."

Tossing me a datapad, glances back at the ship. "I'm gonna miss her…"

"On the datapad is the rights to the ship, the tags, the codes. all the legal stuff. All you've got to do is rename her if you want." He explains before gesturing for his friends to follow him out of the hanger. "Come on guys. Let's get out of here."

As I watch them leave, I toss a bag of money at the Gamorreans for them to fight over before turning to the Astromechs.

"Just so you guys know, I can't understand the beeps and whistles. All I need to know is if either of y'all can fly this thing?"

At a somewhat offended beep from the R3, I put my hands up in surrender.

"Hey, didn't mean to offend. Oh wait, duh. The R3 Units were designed for Military use… So how the hell did you get all the way out here?"

At another string of whistles and beeps with the R4 unit piping up every so often, I simply stare at them blankly.

"Note to self. Learn Binary." I mutter before shaking my head. "There's a Nubian ship thats landed in the outskirts, while I finish up some business in Mos Espa, could you two find it and land close by?" At what I assume was a confirmatory whistle, I nod and grin.

"I'm assuming that's a yes! Awesome, thank you guys!" I say before I start to jog out before another whistle stops me in my tracks. Turning back, I see R4 bumping into the closed ramp of the ship while R3 seems to glance between me and him as if to say, 'Really? This is what you leave me with?'

"Oh, right. Gotta open it."

Running back, I see a number pad by the door. Glancing down at the password, I input it and watch as the door slowly lowers. Thankfully, R4 moved out of the way.

"You guys got it from here?"

At what I assumed was a yes, I nod before pausing.

"R3, think you can pilot it yourself?"

At his whistle, I gesture for R4 to follow me.

"Awesome. R4, you're gonna help me for a little while."

And with that, I was going to talk with Watto.

/

Luckily, by the time I got up to him, he was already defeated enough to do no more than sigh and hand me a remote and the deed to the shop.

"I lost everything..." he mutters as he packs what's left of his clothes.

"Hey, where are you going?" I ask him. "I never said you could leave. I still need someone to run the store while I'm gone."

"I-What?"

"Everyone needs a place to lay low for a bit." I explain as I toss him a bag of money. "Get yourself a few droids and get this place back up and running. I want money."

Grinning like a fool, the buzzing alien nearly tackled me with a hug before I could escape.

"Thank you! Thank You!" He said before switching to huttese, rambling on for a few minutes before I was able to make my escape.

The bet I had made was simple, and yet was far more pragmatic than I had originally planned. Basically, I had made a bet that Sebulba wouldn't even finish the race, He laughed in my face and asked if I was stupid or crazy, so I responded by offering my ship. He told me I was stupid since one ship wasn't worth a slave and whatever else he was selling.

So I put his shop on the line.

Then he got serious.

If Anakin won and Sebulba failed to even finish the race, I would get Shmi Skywalker and ownership of Watto's shop, thus earning a percentile of the profits. If Anakin lost but Sebulba failed to finish, I would get the shop, but no slave and he'd get the ship. If Anakin lost and Sebulba finished, he got the ship and the same amount of money the winner of the race got.

More than I had at the time of making the bet.

But, Anakin won and Sebulba crashed, leaving me with enough money to spare on a few new droids for Watto to bring in.

Plus, if I ever do anything stupid, I had a place to lay low should the need arise, so there is that.

So here I was, on my way to pick up Shmi and hopefully catch Qui-Gon before they left.

Luckily for me, Qui-Gon and them had to get the Hyperdrive over to the ship, replace it, then come back to get Anakin.

So I still had some time.

Finally making my way to their home, I knock on the door and wait.

After a few moments, the door slides open to reveal Shmi Skywalker.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"Excuse me, are you Shmi Skywalker?" I ask her.

"I am."

"Perfect. My name is Alan. Alan Warren, and I just won a bet against Watto… How do I put this..." I mutter. "Congrats! You are no longer a slave!"

"I-Excuse me?" She asks. "You can't be serious."

"Do you mind if I come in? I can explain more once we're more comfortable."

Nodding, though probably more out of shock than anything, she lets me in to her dining area where we sit, R4 staying quiet thankfully as we talk.

"I made a rather convoluted bet with your old master, Watto. He lost, resulting in his ownership transferring over to me. I personally don't have any need or want for a slave, so I decided to set you free."

"But… why?" She asks before pausing. "And what about my son?"

"From what I understand, an offworlder made a similar bet with Watto not minutes before mine… From what I gathered, your son is just as free as you are, though I don't believe he's been made aware of the fact yet." I explain.

From behind me, the sound of a door opening surprised me a bit. Talk about cutting it close.

"Mom! Mom! We sold the pod! Look at all the money we- Oh. Wait, you're the man who wished me good luck before the race!"

"I am indeed, and what a race it was! I've never seen someone pull the same stunts as you." I laugh before nodding at Qui-Gon. "Master Jedi, an honor."

"You know who I am?" He asks me with a raised eye brow.

"Among other things." I shrug. "However, before we get further into that subject, Anakin, I think Master Qui-Gon has a little announcement!"

Glancing at me with equal amounts amusement and suspicion, he looks back at Anakin and smiles.

"You have been freed."

"What!" Anakin gasps.

"You're no longer a slave!" Qui-Gon reiterated.

"Did you hear that?!" he asks his mother. The difference this time being her own smile hiding the tears of joy she had in her eyes.

"You're free Ani. Now you can make all your dreams come true." She says with a smile. "Now, you go pack your things."

As he starts to run to his room, he stops.

"What about mom?"

"Don't worry, Anakin. I took care of that. She is just as free as you are." I reply. "Speaking of, I would suggest you go pack your things as well. We're leaving this dustball, and if the Jedi allows it, We'll join them on their trip to Coruscant."

"Yes, of course." She says before she scurries to her room.

"You seem to know a lot more than you should."

"Yep." I reply with a shrug. "All you need to know is that I am not a threat to the Jedi or the Skywalkers. After that, who knows?"

Nodding, he sighs. "Jedi aren't supposed to have attachments."

"Anakin grew up a slave. Everything he owned belonged to his master and was liable to be taken away from him at the drop of a hat. He'll cling onto anything that he deems his. By taking his mother away, you breed resentment. Pretty sure that's not a really positive emotion."

"I wasn't taking her away from him." He countered.

"You were taking him away from her." I reply. "It's worse because he would have felt survivals guilt. She was still a slave while he roamed free as a Jedi."

"He would have learned to let go of his guilt."

"Again, raised as a slave. On Tattooine. That's like asking a rancor to play nice." I explain. "I'm not saying he can't be Jedi. On the contrary, he's probably going to be the best, but he's already got attachments. Attachments that, if broken, will push him to the dark side. All I'm saying is let them see each other. Even if Shmi were to work for the Queen as a handmaiden, it would still give Anakin comfort knowing his mother was somewhere safe."

Sighing, I shrug. "But what do I know. I'm just a guy who happened to bet on the right kid."

/

Once Anakin and Shmi were ready with their meager belongings and I had deactivated her control chip while Qui-Gon deactivated Anakins, C-3P0 thankfully turned off and put on a sleigh being pulled by R4, we were on our way to our ships. Using my comm unit, I call R3.

"We're heading that way. Was there any trouble with our friends?" I ask before holding the comm by Anakin so he could translate.

Several whistles and a couple beeps later, Anakin nods.

"He says they were a bit careful at first, but the haven't done anything yet."

"Good. Just checking in." I reply before glancing at Qui-Gon. "How long would you say it will take us to get to the ship?"

"Roughly fifteen minutes." He answers as he glances around.

"We should be here in roughly fifteen minutes then." I tell R3 before hanging up.

The rest of the walk was spent in relative silence, the only noise being R4 and Anakin's conversation about some sort of speeder if Anakin's side of the conversation was anything to go on.

Walking somewhat faster, I catch up to Qui-Gon's longer stride and glance up to him. He seemed worried as he kept glancing around. He could sense Maul.

"You sense something?" I ask.

"Nothing to worry about." He answers before pointing up ahead of us. "Come, our ship is just over the next sand dune."

Glancing behind us, I can see a speck in the distance.

"You're 'Nothing' may be a bit more of a something than you would like to believe." I tell him. "R4, get 3P0 on their ship. Shmi, Anakin, We may be in for some trouble… Head to the silver one. Qui-Gon and I will deal with it."

Glancing back at where I was looking, Qui-Gon nods. "This shouldn't take long. Anakin, tell the pilot to take off and fly low."

"R4, tell R3 the same." I order as I draw my Cycler Rifle.

As they start hurrying towards the ships, I start to take aim down the sights.

"Interesting choice of weaponry." Qui-Gon says as he draws his lightsaber.

"Not everyone has access to a glorified glow stick." I snark as I let out a steadying breath before firing.

The weight was a bit different than I was used to, so I missed. Cocking it, I take aim again.

"Zabrak, red skin, black tattoos. Black robes, black cloak, Metal tube on his hip." I describe as I fire again, the boom echoing through the desert. "I'd say he's a Dark Jedi at best, Sith at worst."

"The Sith have been extinct for over a millennia." Qui-Gon refutes as the bullet dings against the speeder, though it does nothing to stop him or even slow him down as by this point he had gotten too close for my rifle.

"And yet, I doubt he's coming for a cup of sugar." I joke as I sling my rifle over my shoulder and draw a blaster.

Ducking out of the way, the speeder flies by me as Maul leaps off, igniting his lightsaber and attacking Qui-Gon. Behind me I can hear both of our ships taking off and flying low, the ramps on both lowered.

Taking a few pot shots at Maul, doing no more than mildly distracting him as he blocks the shots, I start running towards my own ship.

Hopping onto the ramp, I grab the piston that opened and closed the door to use as a support as I start firing at Maul.

"R3! Get us out of here!" I yell as I see the Nubian ship fly closer to the fight. Taking a few more Pot Shots, I see Qui-Gon jump aboard the Queen's yacht.

Stepping further into the ship, the doors close behind me.

"Well… that went well." I chuckle.

"Good job, guys!" I shout as I walk further into the ship. Turns out, there are three levels in the ship itself, the bottom floor meant for cargo as this was a light freighter. Just behind the cargo area was an elevator that would take me to a higher floor. Behind the lift was the engine room and the ventral turret access.

Second floor was more cargo space and escape pods. Not all that much there, though I may change that depending on what I end up doing.

Top floor held all the goodies, from the common room to the different cabins.

The common room held a kitchen and a table to eat on along with several chairs and a holotable with what looked like that space chess Chewie and 3P0 played on the Millennium Falcon. The three passenger's cabins were pretty basic, though one seemed used recently… I should probably clean that. Each one had a bed, a nightstand and a closet. The used one used to belong to the Dug it looked like as hanging from the ceiling was a smaller sized hammock.

The First Mates quarters were right in between the two restrooms and looked to belong to the Houk, though it seemed relatively cleaned up. Unlike the passenger rooms, the First mates room was larger and also had a desk and a chair, same as the Captain's cabin.

The cockpit looked similar to the Falcons, if a bit larger and also currently being occupied by two droids.

"Good job, guys." I say as I plop down in the Captain's chair. "Just a heads up, I have no idea how to pilot this thing."

Sarcastic whistle from R3.

"I'll have you know, until twenty four hours ago, I thought all of this was fake, so cut me some slack."

Confused whistle from R4.

"Eh. Don't worry about it… I'm not entirely sure if I'm ready to face that hurdle yet..." I sigh before pointing at the viewport. "Plot a course for Coruscant. If we're going to help the Jedi, we need to be with them."

Another whistle, this time I wasn't entirely sure what kind. All I did know was that we were now entering Hyperspace.

"This is so cool..." I mutter as the stars turn into streaks, the parsecs flying by.

Okay… this… this was cool, but it got old fast.

Getting up from my spot, I decided to see if I could redecorate a bit. My ship after all, I may as well make it mine.

"Call me if something happens, or if we arrive." I tell the two droids as I head to the kitchen. Before redecoration comes food.

/

"There is no need for thanks, I merely did what I thought best at the time." I explain as I try to pull of a completely innocent, just passing through routine.

Considering they haven't called my bullshit yet, I was assuming it was working.

Shortly after entering hyperspace, a ringing of sorts seemed to echo through the ship before I realized what it was.

I was being called.

So, tossing on my hat and heading towards the holoprojector, I open the channel and see the Queen sitting on her throne. After a short greeting and a heartfelt thanks from the Queen, we got down to business.

"Regardless, we are grateful for your assistance. Perhaps some form of compensation is in order?"

"As much as I would love to accept, I'm afraid the job isn't finished. If you'll have me, I would like to help you while you are visiting Coruscant and your eventual journey home."

"While we are grateful for your assistance, I'm sure my security detail can handle the job." The Queen replies.

Was this Padme or the double? I had no idea honestly.

"And if the attacker returns? With all due respect, the Jedi are not all knowing, nor are they omnipresent. They have matters to attend to on Coruscant, as do you. If the attacker decides to return, your security detail won't last." I counter. "Regardless, you strike me as the type to fight back when your people are hurting, you'll need me when you decide to return to Naboo."

"I trust that the Senate will fulfill its duty to the Republic and my people. They will not let a travesty such as this stand." She replies, a glimmer of assurance and hope seem to glow in her eyes as she says that.

"If you're so sure on that, Your Highness, than keep your money." I reply before sighing. "If you decide that Naboo has a pest problem, then you know where to find me. Tell the real Queen I said hello."

And with that, I hung up.

Okay then. On the bright side, they won't really need my help while on Coruscant. Nothing dangerous happens to them until they return to Naboo anyway, so I guess this gives me some free time on Coruscant once we arrive.

Not that I would know what the hell I would do once I got there, but the sentiment stays.

"I guess I can figure that out while I wait." I mutter to myself as I glance behind me at the rest of the ship. "In the meantime, I should keep myself busy."

As much as I wanted to be with them throughout their journey, if for no other reason than the awesomeness of being on Coruscant with the Jedi, I was an outsider who happened to just show up, free the mother of the Chosen One, then help fight some random attacker before booking it in his ship. As helpful as I was, I wasn't a Jedi, nor was I one of her bodyguards.

Jar-Jar doesn't count. He was with the Jedi, so he gains a small semblance of trust on that alone. If the Jedi don't trust me, then the Queen has no reason to do so either. At this point, I offered my services, so from here on out, the ball is in her court.

Taking my gambling spoils, I start sorting them out.

The Comm unit I got seemed pretty standard, not that I would know what standard was in this galaxy, but it was basically a small microphone that would receive calls from about fifty kilometers away without satellite amplification. The blaster carbine, or more accurately, the space shotgun as I will now call it, is just that. A Space Shotgun that shoots a spray of blaster shots as opposed to a single bolt. I was definitely keeping that.

The Trench Coat and Hat combo were pretty standard, a brown leather jacket that went down to my ankles with a hidden holster on the inside just above the heart and several pockets. That hidden holster immediately had my the blaster I stole from the Daveronian, a small blaster that was called the Snubble Special because of its short barrel and snub nosed appearance. The blaster was small and had limited shots, but it packed a punch. The hat was a broad rimmed hat that reminded me of Cad Bane to a degree with a hidden pocket on the inside.

Maybe I can stick a lock picking set or a slicer thing in there?

The space weed was just tossed in the kitchen. I was not gonna mess with that with a ten foot pole.

Though… I may be able to sell it to the right person…

Eh, maybe once I've figure my way around Coruscant, but for now, it was planning time. If I was planning on preventing Qui-Gon's death, I needed a way to kill a Sith.

This would be interesting.

/

Tada! Chapter two!

So he shot at Maul a few times, then booked it. I'm sorry, but you stick a regular dude who has minor weapons training against a guy like Maul? Maul isn't the one losing unless the regular guy cheats. So thats whats gonna happen next time they fight. He is gonna cheat.

Also, the Queen is grateful, but doesn't trust the MC. Honestly though, would you? He just happens to show up, shoot at the bad guy a bit, then run off to his ship. The only explanation you get is he freed this nine year old from slavery then decided to follow Qui-Gon back.

So, next chapter is a little bit of Coruscant, maybe him decorating his ship a bit and grabbing some supplies before they all head back to Naboo.

Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed!

Sayonara!

The Nameless Scribe


	3. We Fight a Sith

Chapter 3

/

As it turned out, the three stooges had taken all of the food off the ship before actually handing everything over. Something I should have checked for before I did anything else really, but what happened, happened.

As it stands though, there was no way I was going to make it to Coruscant without food, so we stopped at Rodia for some supplies like food, fuel, some ammo, a pressure suit so I could open the air locks in space and let any rats or what have you get spaced, and a few changes of clothes. Once that had been taken care of, I had R3 set a course for Naboo. Or, I should say, one of Naboo's moons named Rori.

There was no way in hell I was getting by the blockade, but I could wait on the moon for a bit while Padme dealt with the Senate on Coruscant.

Once they finished, they can pick me up before getting by the blockade. The Trade Federation wants her alive, so her ship would get through the blockade, but anyone else? They would be blown to bits.

Like me, and I personally like myself just the way I am, and not pieces of space dust.

So, landing on Rori, I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And after the first week I quickly realized that the trip between Tattooine and Coruscant and then Coruscant to Naboo took longer than I originally assumed.

It was a good thing I decided to practice my aim while I waited.

Unfortunately, I only had a limited amount of bullets for the Tusken's rifle, so instead I started practicing with my small arsenal of weapons like my Space Shotgun and my Snubble Special, even getting half decent with them after the first week of practice.

If I was going to help them fight Maul, I needed to be at the least, semi competent. I'd rather Maul not chop me in half or deflect a blaster shot into my face.

Hence why I was trying to save my ammo for my Tusken Rifle. If I remembered correctly, the bullet wouldn't get deflected, but instead just melt before splashing the lightsaber wielder with molten metal.

Not that that was the plan, but if plan A. ended up in failure, then I needed a plan B.

And possibly a C. and a D. as well, just in case.

So I spent my time training, setting up targets on the trees and taking hours a day to just train.

It was about three weeks after I landed when something finally happened, and in that time, while I may not have been Hawkeye or Deadshot in terms of skill, I wasn't half bad. I was better with my Snubble than my Space Shotgun, but overall, I was pretty decent.

Shortly after practice one day, I hear a beep from behind me. Turning, I see R3 coming over before turning on his holoprojector to reveal the Queen.

"Your Highness." I greet with a small bow.

"Mr. Warren, I assume you are still willing to assist us against the Trade Federation?" she asks, cutting to the chase.

"Ready and waiting." I reply. "R3 was able to slip by the Federation Sensors and land on one of Naboo's moons. Rori, I think it's called? With all due respect to R3's flying, I didn't want to risk attempting to get by the blockade, so I'll need a pickup."

"That is understandable, we should be arriving in the system within the hour. We will speak more once we arrive."

"Sounds like a plan." I reply with a grin. "I'm looking forward to it."

With a nod, the Queen shut off the holocall.

Picking up my weapons and my targets, I gesture for the two droids to follow me.

"R3, you'll stay with the ship, once the Trade Federation is taken care of, I'll have R4 send you a signal for you to come by and pick us up." I explain as I run back to the ship to make sure everything was ready. I needed to reload everything, make sure everything was cleaned and ready for when the fighting started. "R4, you're coming with me. I have a plan for Maul, but I'll need your help when the time comes, okay?"

With a slightly annoyed whistle from R3 and an excited whistle from R4, I grin and explain the general plan.

This was going to be either the best plan ever, or I was going to die.

Let's hope for the first option.

/

Once the H-type Nubian Yacht landed and I was allowed aboard, I was quickly ushered to the makeshift throne room where only Captain Panaka, The Queen, and the Handmaidens joined me while R4 beeped and whistled with R2.

After a moment of silence, one of the handmaidens steps forward and starts to ask me questions.

"How did you find out about Sabe and I's switch?" She asks with a piercing gaze.

"Okay, so you're Padme." I sighed in relief. "I'll be honest, I can't tell the two of you apart while you two are doing that."

"That doesn't answer the question, Mr. Warren." Panaka replies gruffly.

"I'll be honest, it was a guess." I shrug. "I've seen holoimages of you and your handmaidens before. Figured it would be a smart idea for one of the Handmaidens to play Queen for a bit in order to let the real Queen fly under the radar. Didn't realize y'all actually did that."

"So then if it was a guess, why did you tell Sabe to tell the real Queen hello?" Padme asks. "If you were wrong, we would have assumed you were mad."

"Aah, but I wasn't wrong." I replied with a grin. "I figured if my hunch was true, you would be interested in me enough to contact me again, if for no other reason than to find out how I knew. If nothing else, it lets me help Naboo against the Trade Federation. I never liked those guys..."

"And if you were wrong?" Panaka asks.

"Well, either the Trade Federation would have her sign the treaty or you guys would win and the Trade Federation would leave the system. Regardless, I'm sure your victory or defeat will be all over the Holonet. At that point, my info would be useless." I reply.

"So the only reason you said that was so you could help us fight the Trade Federation?" Panaka asks with a confused look on his face. "I doubt that."

"I don't like the Trade Federation and I find illegal invasions somewhat abhorrent. Besides that, I've got nothing for you." I shrug again.

With a sigh, Padme nods. "Very well. We will take you at your word for now, however, should you prove yourself a traitor in any way… You will be sorry."

"Agreed." I nod. "Now, onto other matters, do you have any plans for when we land?"

"We do." Padme says before gesturing to Captain Panaka to explain. "Captain?"

On with the show.

/

Getting by the blockade was a simple task. Nobody shot at us, nobody attacked, but the sense of being watched kept up until we entered the atmosphere. After which we landed in a heavily forested area.

Once everyone had gotten off the ship and Jar-Jar had left to find the Gungans, I made sure to do another check of my weapons.

With my slug thrower strapped to my back, my Snubble Special hooked in a hidden holster on the inside of my jacket, my Double Barrel Blaster Carbine was hooked to the left of my belt, and my Gaffi Stick strapped to my right, I was as ready as I would ever be.

Once we made an alliance with the gungans, I was definitely getting me one of their body shields but until then, this is what I had.

And I felt woefully under prepared.

Against the droids, I was probably fine. Even against the Droidekas I had a decent plan, but against the standard B-1 style Battle droid, I should be relatively fine.

Against Maul however…

I just hoped my plan worked.

While we were waiting, I didn't do much talking. There was little to talk about. Qu-Gon and Obi-Wan were discussing Anakin and his mother. Anakin was talking with the Pilot about different flying techniques Shmi was here, surprisingly enough, though now that she was free, I guess she didn't want to let her son out of her sight. She was quietly eyeing Anakin with an amused and worried look about her.

It didn't take long for us to get moving however, as we quickly started following Jar-Jar's trail to the underwater city where, once Jar-Jar returned, turned out to be quite empty.

As much as I wanted to get this over with and just tell them where the Gungans were hiding, I kept quiet as we trucked through the swamp to the Gungans secret place.

Thankfully, everything went according to script. The Gungans agreed after Padme revealed herself, we all went back to the ship, we went over the plans again, Jar-Jar was promoted to Bombad General, and shortly after that we were ready to go.

But first, I needed to speak with Boss Nass about something.

"I need a Shield."

"Anda why should we'sa be givin' you dat?"

"Because I have a plan to help win the battle faster, but in order to do that, we need to get to the palace as fast as we can. With a shield we can get by the droids faster and end the battle all the sooner." I reply before pushing on. "We'd be saving more Gungan lives this way and we'd be taking out more droids this way."

"Hmmm…. Meesa can do that." he replies after a moment before he goes back to the rest of the Gungan fighting force. Leaning down, he grabs an oval object with a handle in the middle. Handing it to me, he shows me how to activate it before patting me on the back.

Right, there was a battle about to happen.

Fun.

/

Once the plan had been gone over again, we all got into position, Shmi staying at the ship in order to keep her safe, though somehow the Jedi had been able to convince her to allow Anakin to join them.

I wasn't arguing, we needed him to win, but still.

Getting into the city was the easy part. Using existing piping and tunnels to actually enter the city, red team, which included the Jedi, Anakin, R2, R4, Padme and a few of her handmaidens, a few of her royal guards, and myself would wait in hiding while the Blue team, which had everyone else, caused a distraction, allowing us access to the Royal Hangar.

Gesturing to R4, I use my shield to block incoming fire while I used my Snubble to return fire, picking off a few droids while the Jedi deflected fire back with their lightsabers.

"Ani! Find cover!" Qui-Gon yells as he blocks a bolt back at an unfortunate droid. "Quick!"

"Get to your ships!" Padme yells as she fires a few bolts at the droids.

Immediately all the pilots of the groups ran off towards any available ship they could as we lay down cover fire.

It didn't take long for most of the droids to get taken out. Most of the Pilots making it to their ships and taking off to fight the Trade Federation. Unfortunately, a few didn't make it, leaving a few ships still parked in the hanger.

Gesturing towards R4 again, I fire a shot at the last B-1 Droid, nailing it between the eyes.

"My guess is the Viceroy's in the Throne Room." Padme tells Panaka once the last droid has been taken care of.

"Red Group, Blue Group. Everybody this way!" He yells as he leads them towards the other end of the hanger.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Anakin cries as he stands up in the cockpit he was hiding in.

"Anakin, stay where you are." Qui-Gon orders as he follows Panaka.

"But I-"

"Stay in that cockpit."

Giving him a thumbs up as we pass by, I carefully unstrap my gaffi stick from my side and hold it loosely at my side. In the end, it would do little against a lightsaber, but at best, it may act as a distraction should the need arise.

As we neared the end of the hangar, the door ahead of us opened, revealing the man himself.

Robed in all black, the Zabrak looked even more menacing than I remembered on Tattooine, though at that point I wasn't really trying to kill him, just put on a show. Here though, the yellow eyes rimmed in red, the black and red tattoos and the horns on his head embodied the definition of what evil looked like.

So when the Jedi told us to go, I was a bit more willing to take their advice.

"Go, we'll handle this." Qui-Gon told everyone as he eyed their new opponent. Immediately everyone else started running off to complete their missions.

Nodding, I leave them as well, but not to follow the Queen.

Running towards the door they go through to the generators or whatever they were, it didn't take long before the sound of lightsaber combat echoed through the hanger. Gesturing for to R4 to get ready, I watch as he docks with one of the unused starships before he pulls out and takes aim.

God, Force, George Lucas, Mickey Mouse, I hoped this worked.

"HEY HORNHEAD!" I yell at Maul and the Jedi, causing them all to pause their fight and look at me. "Block this!"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, R4 fired, and with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on either side of him, he had no choice but to block the shot.

Unfortunately for Maul, blocking a shot from a starfighter was significantly harder than blocking a shot from a blaster. For one, the shot was much bigger, for another, the force behind the shot was far greater. In all the cases I remember from Canon or legends material, if you were ready for it, you could block it, but it would nearly disarm you.

And considering he wasn't ready for it, the lightsaber was wrenched from his hands once the bullets ricocheted of his blade.

Taking aim, I fire a couple stun rounds at the Sith, knocking him out completely.

"Well… I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if that would work." I chuckle nervously as I look at his prone form. "I'd suggest either killing him, or locking him up somewhere."

"We would have handled it." Qui-Gon replies simply before looking at me. "But thank you. I sense you helped us a great deal more than we will ever know."

"Awesome…" I say before I hand Qui-Gon my Snubble. "It's set on stun, if he wakes up, I assume you know what to do?"

With a small smile and a nod, he slips the weapon into his belt before turning to Obi-Wan to talk.

As the two Jedi speak, I casually sneak over to where Mauls lightsaber had fallen. Slipping it into my jacket, I rush off to help the Queen. I may as well put on a show while I'm here.

/

Seeing as the Queen hadn't had a chance to go that far due to the droidekas Anakin blew up, I was able to catch up to them fairly quickly.

Drawing my Space Shotgun (Which was a bit of a misnomer, as while it looked like a shotgun, it didn't shoot a spray of blaster bolts like I had originally assumed, and instead fired a larger than average shot with a secondary mode that allowed for both barrels to fire simultaneously.) I quickly take a few shots, taking out a few of the droids before sliding up behind Padme.

"The Jedi are currently taking care of their new prisoner." I explain as I take out another droid.

"That was fast. I thought they would take longer." Panaka replies as he fires off a few quick shots.

"Yeah, well, Even Sith have a hard time standing up to a starfighters blasters." I shrug before I shoved my shield in front of Padme, blocking a shot aiming in her general vicinity.

"You shot at them with one of our starfighters?" Padme asks as she takes a couple shots. "Are the Jedi okay?"

"Oh, yeah!" I reply as I ducked behind a pillar. "A bit pissed at me for not giving them a heads up, but they're fine. The attacker tried to deflect the shots, but the force of the shot disarmed him and I stunned him."

Picking up the blaster from one of the downed soldiers, I take a few pot shots at the droids before Padme growls in frustration.

"At least they are all right, but we don't have time for this!"

Glancing at the window, Panaka fires his blaster and shatters it.

"Go!" he yells, ushering us all across the hall. "Ascension Guns!"

Watching one of the other soldiers change the settings on his own gun, I do the same to mind before stepping onto the ledge of the very tall building.

"Is it a bad time to mention I hate heights?" I half joke, half whimper as I hug the wall.

Aiming up, I fire the paracord and stick to one of the higher floors.

"George Lucas, I officially hate you." I mutter as I get lifted up to one of the higher floors.

Standing on the ledge, I keep the gun attached to the roof to act as another handhold and watch as Padme fires at the glass window, shattering it and allowing us in.

"Never doing that again." I mutter after I had carefully gotten myself inside and not on the ledge.

If I had a jetpack or something, I'd be a bit better about it, but as it stands, fuck no.

Running down the hall to the throne room, I had almost though we were doing fine when we were surrounded by six droidekas and almost as many battle droids.

"Put down your weapons, they've won this round." Padme sighs as she places her own weapon on the floor.

After unstrapping all of my weapons except Maul's lightsaber, which made me feel like I was one of those stupid but funny tropes where I just kept pulling weapons out of random places, we were lead into the throne room to meet Nute Gunray.

"Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness. Time for you to sign the treaty and end this pointless debate in the senate." Gunray says with an air of superiority.

"Viceroy, your occupation here has ended!" we hear from the doorway, revealing Sabe dressed as the Queen.

"After her!" Gunray yells at the droids. "This one is a decoy."

Sticking my hands in my pockets, I watch as Padme leaps onto her thrown, opens up a secret compartment in her throne and grabs a couple blasters, tossing one to Panaka and keeping one for herself before they take out the remaining droids who hadn't run after the decoy.

"Jam the doors!" Panaka orders as he keeps a blaster aiming at the Viceroy.

"Now, Viceroy… We will discuss a new treaty."

/

**Alright, I was hoping this would end up longer, but the last few days I've been sick and to be honest, I felt as if it was a good place to end the chap. **

**I'm hoping for future chaps to be longer, but for right now, this is it.**

**Next chapter is aftermath type stuff, party, getting honored for being a hero, etc.**

**You know, basic stuff.**

**So until then, hope you enjoy!**

**The Nameless Scribe**


	4. Nar Shaddaa

Chapter 4

/

**Just to answer a review real quick, he is not invisible to the Force, as awesome as that would be, he isn't. And Palpatine probably wont be sending assassins after him yet.**

**Hopefully.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chap!**

/

It seems like newly regained freedom gets a person into a partying mood.

With Maul and the Viceroy taken care of thanks to a small envoy of Jedi Knights and Masters and some republic enforcers, everyone was given the chance at celebration, and I did everything I could to avoid the Jedi.

I wanted Mauls lightsaber, damn it. And I would get it.

Which is why I gave the lightsaber to R4 and had him call R3 for a pickup. Can't get my lightsaber if its in space. When I need a pickup, I'll just call him back.

The Party itself was pretty interesting, there was a whole ceremony with Boss Nass lifting up the basketball of light and yelling peace at the top of his lungs, There was a bunch of dancing, food, and drinks, a bunch of Jedi like Master Yoda, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Some guy with horns that looks like a ram, and Mace Windu.

And now I was very glad I got the lightsaber out of there.

It was shortly after the parade that the Jedi, or more specifically Qui-Gon, asked me about it.

"I must thank you for offering me your weapon earlier, it proved most useful." Qui-Gon tells me as he hands me back my Snubble. "Now, I'm afraid I must ask for the attackers lightsaber. We cannot risk it falling into the wrong hands."

"And who exactly would the wrong hands be?" I ask him as we watch the party commence. Anakin had somehow convinced Padme to dance with him while Shmi and Panaka watched over them.

"Pirates, smugglers, black market dealers, other Sith." Qui-Gon replies as he crosses his arms.

"And do you think I am any of these?"

"No, but despite that, possessing a lightsaber will put a target on your head. The Sith are vengeful, and while we may hope to find the other Sith through the one we fought here, there is still a chance you will be hunted for that saber." Qui-Gon explains.

"And which would I be worried for? The Master or the Apprentice?" I ask Qui-Gon after a moment hesitation.

"You know something." Qui-Gon countered before sighing. "But I am not sure. The Force blinds us of such knowledge."

"Then don't look at the Force as much and look at their abilities." I reply with a shrug. "I've done some research on the Sith, and most of the time, while yes they were skilled with the lightsaber, they often had more skill in the Force as well. If our mysterious attacker was a Sith Master… I highly doubt my starfighter trick would have worked. Even as it is, I'm still somewhat shocked that it worked."

"So you believe the Master is still out there?" Qui-Gon asks me with a raised eyebrow. "Then shouldn't that give you more reason to give over the lightsaber?"

"Yes and no?" I half ask, half state. "If Obi-Wan lost his lightsaber, what would you do?"

"I would have him make another, going through the process again in order to ensure he knows how important his lightsaber is to him. It's a tool, but it is also a part of you." He answers.

"Exactly. Maul doesn't know I have it, he was knocked out. His Master doesn't know I have it because as soon as I got the chance, I got it away from me." I reply. "So as far as they are aware, Maul needs a new lightsaber, and considering Maul is heading to his own personal cell, it's not like he needs to make another."

"What do you mean, 'got it away from you?'" Qui-Gon turns to me and raises an eyebrow.

"It is no longer on my person and its exact location I am currently unaware of." I carefully say. Technically a truth. I have no idea where _exactly _my ship is, and the saber is not on my person.

"You are an interesting individual, Mr. Warren." Qui-Gon chuckles. "Perhaps we shall meet again, and perhaps next time we meet, you will be more willing to hand over dangerous Sith Artifacts."

"Sure, and maybe next time Yoda will like seagulls." I mutter as he starts to walk away.

Gotta love parties.

/

Staring at my new N-1 Nubian starfighter with a grin on my face, I watch as the workers carefully slide it into my ships cargo bay. Thankfully it was just small enough to fit.

I'd need to give it a paint job later, but for now, this would do.

Shortly after the party started wrapping up, Queen Amidala offered the Jedi, Anakin, and I rewards for our deeds on Naboo against the Trade Federation. Originally it was supposed to be a huge ceremony with badges and monetary rewards.

Instead the Jedi refused, Anakin asked if it was okay for his mom to work for Padme, and I asked for them to open me a bank account and for a N-1 Nubian Starfighter to call my own.

So, slightly disappointed in her inability to actually do the ceremony, the Queen grants our wishes and we go our own ways. The Jedi and Anakin back to Coruscant, Shmi to her new palace job, and me off to pick up my ship.

And then to the battlefield where I scavenge up everything I could possibly get my hands on.

"Alright R3, fly us over to the battlefield and get ready for some heavy lifting, we've got some scavenging to do."

Right now the battle droids were linked to a central computer, or they were before it was blown up. Once we get the droids stockpiled into the ship, which still needs a name, we will connect them all to R3 and the ship, thus allowing them to continue operating. Now, normally this would be impossible as most R style units wouldn't have the processing power to do so, but R3 was originally designed for the military, and thus could probably do the job long enough to get us from Naboo to Nar Shaddaa. Once we get to Nar Shaddaa and find a buyer for them, we should be able to transfer ownership from one ship to the next and allow their own computer or astromech to act as a replacement computer for them.

Obviously I was keeping a few droids for myself, I wasn't that stupid, but we'd be making a pretty penny if this worked.

If it didn't, well… that would kind of suck.

Landing the ship in one of the few clear patches of the battlefield, we quickly get to work. R4 and R3 using their magnetic cables to grab ahold of the more intact droidekas and B1's while I grabbed what I could, hauling as much as I could into the second floor storage bay.

By the time we filled up the second floor storage bay, it had taken us several hours of work. In which time, we had collected over seventy of the in tact B1's, almost forty droidekas and enough Gungan shields and Droid Blasters to fill up two of the spare rooms.

I also grabbed a few of the boomas.

Those things may prove useful in the future.

And by the time we were done, we were all tired.

"Don't worry about messing with the battle droids right now, R3, set a course for Nar Shaddaa and set it on Autopilot then go recharge. Lord knows we all probably need some rest." I mutter that last part as the hatch closes, sealing the ship. "R4, you still got the lightsaber?"

Whistling cheerfully, he opens a small hatch on his side, allowing it to pop out.

"Good job, bud." I grin as I head to the captains quarters and set it down with my other weapons.

Flopping down onto the bed, I sigh. This has been one helluva day.

On the bright side, I was able to accomplish one of my goals. Save Qui-Gon Jinn and therefore give Anakin a better teacher.

Not that Obi-Wan was bad per se, but he was always pushed into the role, he never really wanted it. At least with Qui-Gon, Anakin will have a chance at a happy life as Qui-Gon would be more understanding about Anakin's emotions.

That being said, who knew at this point. All I can do is speculate, and that will get me nowhere at this point.

Still, regardless, if things still happen according to Sidious's plans, the Clone Wars will kick off in about ten years time. That's ten years for me to prepare. That means training, that means studying, that means finding me a decent suit of armor and some allies.

I had a few ideas in mind, but I'd need to get started on them rather quickly if I was going to do them at all. For now though, I needed to do some research.

Pulling up the Holonet, I was grateful that I could somehow speak and read galactic Basic. I wasn't exactly sure how I could, but I wasn't arguing.

Now for my first subject of research, Jango Fett.

/

It took us about three weeks to get to Nar- Shaddaa and in that time period, I hesitantly placed the universe I was in as the Canon Universe.

I say hesitantly as it seemed like some of the history matched Legends material, but on the other hand, Jango Fett wasn't Mandalorian.

In Legends, I was pretty sure he ended up as the Mandalore at some point, so considering I can't find much of anything about him yet I can find out who most of the other Mandalores were? It made me think he was his Canon self.

A pretender.

So my options at this point were relatively slim. By selling most of these droids, I should have enough money to offer him payment to train me in combat, however makes it more difficult for me to get myself a decent set of armor.

And by decent, I mean the best, and by best, I mean a true set of Mandalorian Armor made from Beskar, or as its more commonly referred to as, Mandalorian Iron.

Preferably with a Cortosis weave in at the very least the Vambraces as a greater defense against lightsabers.

My second option is to become a Mandalorian, and considering they are a nomadic group not based on species or race, its possible for outsiders to join up. The biggest issue is that the Mandalorians are in the process of stepping away from their warrior heritage and going full pacifist.

Which is kind of bullshit in my opinion, but whatever.

Which leads me to my next option.

Death Watch.

Obviously there were some other options, but considering the path Mandalore is taking, Death Watch will offer me the best chances.

There were of course some pros and cons to this option. For example, on one hand there is armor, training, and a paycheck. On the other hand, I become a terrorist.

That being said, as long as I wear my helmet, nobody outside of Death Watch would be the wiser, but I can't really bet on that considering I do plan on leaving the group as soon as I am physically capable.

Plus it gives me the chance to train in combat, piloting, marksmanship, and basically everything I'll need in order to survive the Clone Wars. Not only that, but if I'm right, they should give me a suit of armor for myself. Once I was done with training, I could leave Death Watch and go my own merry way to do whatever I want.

Which seems to be pointing at bounty hunter or smuggler at the moment, but really, those are the best options at the moment.

Regardless of what I was planning on doing however, I needed to sell these droids first, and I think I may know who to sell it to.

If I remembered right, there was a Hutt on Nar Shaddaa who was a bit different than the other Hutts.

For one, he was buff. For another he had robotic legs attacked to him so he could scuttle around like some giant bug.

If I remembered correctly, his name was Grakkus, and while he doesn't deal with droids, he does collect a multitude of Jedi artifacts. If I can convince him he needs a bit of a tighter security force, I should be able to sell most of my stock.

Sure it would probably be for cheaper than I really want, but in the end, it should be worth it.

But first thing's first.

Finding the giant slug.

/

Nar Shaddaa reminded me of a weird Las Vegas, L.A. Noir hybrid with all the neon signs and the stench and the buildings that are far too close together to be safe.

Landing the ship in an unused spaceport, I payed the man in charge with a little extra in order to make sure he leaves everything well enough alone and to point me in the direction of Hutta Town.

So, making sure my Snubble was hidden in my jacket and my Space Shotgun was in full view, I kept my head on a swivel as I followed the guy's directions.

It took about thirty minutes of walking, a few close calls where I made sure my hand was extra close to my blasters, and a wrong turn, but surprisingly, nothing happened.

Which is how I found myself accidentally bumping into a wall of muscle and scales before falling on my ass.

"Watch where you're going." A large Trandoshan hisses at me before reaching down and grabbing me by the collar and lifting me up.

"My bad, lizard lips." I reply with false confidence as I stick my Space Shotgun to his chest. "I'm sure we can talk this out like gentlemen if you would so kindly let me go."

"Release him." I hear from behind me. The voice booming over the noise and sounding somewhat like Jabba the Hutts in quality. A deep echoing bass of a voice that seemed to reverberate power. The difference being that the newcomer is speaking Basic instead of Huttese and the power was not that of wealth or status, but of raw physical power.

Immediately the Trandoshan drops me and steps back, forcing me to scramble to my feet and hold my blaster ready. I could see several other species of aliens wielding guns surrounding me.

Well this was great.

Turning to the voice, I nearly drop my blaster in shock.

When I was expecting Grakkus the Hutt to be big, I wasn't expecting him to be three times my hight and as buff as the Hulk.

"Umm… Hi?" I ask carefully.

"Grakkus's contacts at the spaceport say you were looking for Hutta Town. You've found it." the Hutt rumbles as he towers over me. "Now, what is it you're looking for, Hunter?"

"Hunter…? What? No, look, I'm sorry." I say after staring at him a few seconds before shaking my head in disbelief. "There's been a slight misunderstanding. I'm not a Bounty Hunter, I'm a businessman. Or at least, that was the attempt before I ran into your associate."

"You have no quarrel with Grakkus or his men?" Grakkus asks as he seemingly gets even taller and crosses his incredibly muscular and intimidating arms.

"Not in the slightest, I swear. I was actually coming to see you about a business deal." I explain. Only getting a raised eyebrow in response I continue. "I had recently come into possession of some Destroyer Droids and some B-1 Style Battle Droids, both top of the line and fresh from the factory. Barely a scratch on them, but I quickly realized that since I was very new to the business of selling things I had no business owning to people who probably had illegal business buying, I decided that since I had decided, where else would I go than Nar Shadda, right? And considering the towns name was Hutta town, I merely assumed that I would find someone willing to buy the droids. I had overheard a few individuals speaking your name and I decided I would try my luck?"

With his eyebrow raised, he merely gestures around us at the aliens pointing guns at me.

"And you think Grakkus needs droids for something? A security force? Bah! Grakkus could crush your skull in the palm of his hand."

"Of course you could, you look very strong." I nod along. "But having a security force would allow you the chance to maybe expand your territory or to protect your businesses more securely? People can be bought, droids are loyal."

"Droids can be sliced." Grakkus growls.

"Which is difficult to do if the slicer is dead." I reply. "A droid won't wait to hear you out before it starts firing. A droid can't be tempted. With semi regular repairs and memory wipes, you will be their master forever."

"Grakkus trusts his men. They guard Grakkus and his collection while enforcing Grakkus's will."

"Your collection?" I ask. Finally. Time for the real sales pitch.

"Jedi Artifacts from times long past. Lightsabers, holocrons, and much more." he brags.

"And your men protect your collection and do your business?" I clarify.

"That is correct."

"And how many of your men can last against a single Jedi if they decide they want their stuff back?" I venture only to immediately flinch as Grakkus puts all his attention on me. "Not that it is the Jedi's stuff, but what if the Jedi decided they want to take your artifacts from you? Claim them for their own? How many of the people here could say with absolute certainty that they could stop a single Jedi?"

Glancing around at his men for a moment, Grakkus faces me again.

"And you think your droids can do what Grakkus's best men can't?"

"Do they have personal force fields that can block lightsabers and an unrelenting salvo of blasterfire?" I ask with my own raised eyebrow. "Besides, ignoring the initial payment for the droids, they work for free and if they get damaged, you can repair them in short order. Can't really say the same about your regular thug. How much do you pay them to stand around all day to protect your stuff? And they require food, shelter, water, clothes, sleep, etc. A droid will stand there for as long as you need, only requiring the occasional recharge."

"Hmmm… Perhaps we can discuss this more at Grakkas palace." the Hutt replies after a moment of thought before turning around. "Come! Follow Grakkus."

Rushing to keep up, I make sure to keep one hand on my carbine at all times. Better safe than sorry after all.

Following the large Hutt back to his palace, a surprisingly short walk considering, he leads me into a museum like space decorated with tons of opulent artifacts like Holocrons, lightsaber hilts ranging from your regular single bladed hilts to double sided hilts to lightsaber pikes, and even several banners depicting battles from thousands of years prior.

"Grakkus is interested in your offer… Having more forces would allow Grakkus the chance to send his men elsewhere to expand his territory." He tells me as he walks around the room, looking at the various artifacts.

"I've got about fifty B-1 style Battle droids and around thirty of the destroyer droids for you, all sold at a discount course."

"Discount?"

"Of course, consider it thanks for allowing me to live." I reply with a small smile. "The average B-1 costs about 1,800 credits on the open market, and the Destroyers are about 21,000 each on average, so I can probably cut those prices by a quarter for you if you would like? Unfortunately the blasters and the hand held energy shields for the B-1's would cost a bit extra, but as thanks for saving my life from your friend out there, I can cut you a deal for half off all of that, leaving the final price at an even 585,000 credits."

Yes, I had done the math before I had even stepped off the ship. I wasn't that good at mental math.

"Then perhaps Grakkus can convince you to lower the price further?" Grakkus asks with a raised eyebrow and steeped fingers.

At that, we started the ageless art of haggling.

/

In the end, Grakkus was relatively pleased, especially once he had learned these droids had faced Jedi in the past. (Not that they had, but I may or may not have misconstrued a few facts and chopped up a Battle droid with Mauls saber in order to sell it to him for his collection.) The final total was 490,000 credits in my pocket and the directions to a mechanic shop nearby that could paint and modify my N-1. Once we were done doing business, I had R3 connect the droids to Grakkus's central computer and download some info he had stored on it. Once this was over, Grakkus's collection would be relatively well protected.

I mean, they were B-1's. It's not like he was buying the best of the best.

Once we had finished, I had brought my N-1, with R4's help, to the body shop and started customizing.

I didn't have the credits to spend upgrading my YV-666 yet. That would have seriously gotten expensive, and even just doing my N-1, which I had started calling The Crow considering the black and grey paintjob, the cost took nearly half of what I made from Grakkus.

It was fucking insane.

That said, it was worth it.

Basically I had them completely rework the shields, making them more powerful so as to protect against greater threats. They then replaced the Blaster Cannons and replaced them with the more powerful Laser Cannons as well as an even better heat sink to allow for a greater rate of fire. Besides that, we also were able to add several variations of mine payloads to the back, allowing me to drop them behind me should I need to. After that, we added a stealth generator which would allow me to slip by nearly anyone.

After that, we gave it a paintjob.

Gone was the yellow and chrome of the past, instead it was painted completely black, with the chrome part of it repainted in a dull grey.

I know, not super cool, no flame job or anything, but it was simple, it was stylish, and it was sexy as fuck.

Plus even without the stealth generator, it was pretty sneaky now.

Had I done these upgrades anywhere else, I would have been sent to prison immediately, that being said… Nar Shaddaa didn't follow the same rules as everyone else.

So, after reloading it and putting it back on my ship, then restocking, I leave Nar Shaddaa.

Probably not for good, but god damn did I not want to see it anytime soon.

/

"Okay, R3. Tell me what you've got."

Immediately a holo screen popped up from R3, scrolling so fast I could barely catch anything before it was gone.

"On second thought, I grabbed a tablet before we left, how about you download the info there and I'll go over it In my own time?"

With a humorous whistle, he does that before scooting over to play a game of holochess while our ship flies us to the next destination.

Chuckling at his antics, I grab the holopad and gave it a quick look.

Info on Bounty Hunters, info on certain Smugglers, not much as I didn't want R3 to get caught, but it was a start. Something I will definitely study on our way to the Mandalorian moon of Concordia, that's for sure.

Setting down in the captains chair, I recline and start reading.

"Let's see… Castas. A Klatooinian bounty hunter with more brawn than brains and yet he is a known coward. Interesting. Fong Do, a Nautolan bounty hunter with ties to Jabba the Hutt. Definitely gonna keep an eye on him. Cradossk, father of Bossk in the future if I remember and a pretty mean bounty hunter. Cad Bane, obviously. Jango Fett, ditto." I mumbled under my breath as I read off some of the file names and contents. "Ruceba Aid, a smuggler. Ooh… he's got a bounty on him. Interesting. Iaco Stark, a smuggler. Kip Bunyea, A.K.A. The Kip. Ooh, from Naboo… Jax Spero the Pirate from Corellia..."

And it went on like that for a while. Going over profiles for no good reason than to familiarize myself with the different names and faces of the more unsavory idiots in this galaxy.

For now though, all I could do was sit and wait.

Concordia was a ways away after all.

/

**And scene.**

**Well that was productive.**

**Sold himself a bunch of droids, made himself a decent profit, on his way to become a Mandalorian (In appearance at the least.) And he got himself some info on some of the big names out there. Please oh please get my poorly hidden reference, I beg of you.**

**Anyway, he also upgraded his starfighter, the Crow. **

**Next chapter, Pre Vizla and his introduction to Mandalorian culture. By the time he's done training, he'll be able to go toe to toe with some of the best.**

**Also, yes. I am aware that the name of the fic is a lie. If you have a better name for it, please, give me a suggestion. **

**Anyway! Hope you enjoy! **

**The Nameless Scribe.**


	5. Mandalorians are Interesting

Chapter 5.

/

Just want to give a thanks to Habstab for the title idea. Loved it! That being said, I'm still open to other title ideas.

/

So I got bored with looking over the names of some of the big names in smuggling and bounty hunting, and started searching the holonet when I realized something.

Either the upgrades to the Crow were much more expensive in context than I had originally assumed or the guy who did the upgrades ripped me off.

Looking at some of the more legal channels for defensive upgrades on ships, I could completely renovate my YV-666 and have enough left over to buy another small ship quite easily.

I had, in short, probably been scammed.

Damn it.

On the bright side, I still had around 250,000 credits to my name, something that snooping around the holonet tells me would set me up for a while if I play my cards right.

I mean, I wasn't Trade Federation rich or anything, not by a longshot, but that didn't mean I was poor.

That being said, I'm in the Star Wars Universe. My actions had already made a splash, I may as well follow through.

However, once we get to the next space port, one of a more legal standard, I'm going to see what I can do to upgrade.

Who knows, I may be able to find me a decent Bulk freighter to use as a mobile base. It would probably clear out the rest of my money, but I do have a few plans in building it back up. As the Death Watch is a military group, they would offer me payment while I trained and ran operations for them. It wouldn't be much, but it would give me a starting point at least.

On the bright side, we were almost at our destination, so I wouldn't have to wait for much longer.

On my travels from Nar Shaddaa to Concordia, I had been semi busy. After reading over the various bounty hunters, smugglers, and pirates of the galaxy, I decided to make a list of the things I remembered. Ten years is a long time, and I didn't want to forget a thing about anything.

For example, Count Dooku escapes Geonosis with the plans of the Death Star. Not that it would happen the same way due to Qui-Gon staying around and keeping Dooku on the good side, but whats to say Sidious won't free Maul and use him as the leader of the Seperatists? Or perhaps simply find another apprentice if Maul proves himself unworthy?

Another example is obviously Order 66. I wasn't aware of many of the other orders unfortunately, but that one in particular was something I would need to figure out how to warn the Jedi about.

Besides the obvious major things like certain battles that take place, who lead those battles, which side won, etc. I also wrote down some of the small things that may prove useful.

For example, the Katana Fleet, HK-47's supposed presence on Mustafar, The Ysalamir lizards that produced a bubble that made it impossible for Force users to manipulate the force while inside, the Chiss Ascendancy, the Yuuzhan Vong, and so much more.

God there was so much. Some of it Legends, some of it Canon, and I honestly didn't know which I would prefer. It looked like certain aspects of this universe was Canon, for example, Jango Fett's lack of Mandalorian background, so I couldn't really bet on much I wrote down.

It would be nice if I could find these things, as it would make my life much easier in the long run, but at the same time… At least Canon didn't have the Vong to worry about.

At least, not unless Disney did something while I wasn't paying attention.

Either way, I wasn't a fan of the Vong.

Regardless, I would be getting myself some probe droids and sending them to various locations throughout the galaxy. The Halm sector, Mustafar, certain Outer Rim territories, and more. Better be safe and use some resources hunting nothing than not doing it and everything I want be right there.

Better safe than sorry.

There was other stuff, obviously. But the list was just too long. Some of this stuff I'd just have to either ignore or determine if they were worth the effort. For example, the Ebon Hawk was on Dromund Kaas last I remembered, and considering nobody has really touched that planet since the fall of the Sith Empire over a millennia ago, the ship is probably still there. The question now is do I go find a several millennium old ship or do I not? The fanboy in me says yes, obviously, but the more pragmatic side of me says that there is little point.

However HK-47 on Mustafar for example, he could prove extremely useful in the grand scheme of things. While I'm busy running missions or something, he can take on other missions for me.

Like murdering specific people for example.

And yes, the Fanboy in me is practically screaming at me to find him while the pragmatic side is saying something more along the lines of, "How are you going to convince him to not murder you?"

Which is an excellent question that I haven't figured out how to answer yet.

Regardless, certain things I will hunt for while other things, I will somewhat ignore for now despite their general awesomeness or level of severity.

Unfortunately.

Hearing a whistle, I turn to see R3 piloting us down into Concordia's atmosphere near Pre Vizsla's estate. Hopefully I can get an audience with him and join Death Watch. The trick is figuring out how to talk about it with him without raising too much suspicion.

Heh, sure.

"Excuse me, Mr. Death Watch leader. Can I join your terrorist group so I can get my own badass armor so I can kill a Sith Lord?"

Yeah, that'll go well.

But in all seriousness, I think I have a way of going about it that should work. Just need to follow the general script of me being a researcher who's studied Mandalore's past and explain to Vizsla that I want to become a Mandalorian myself due to my own respect of the Mandalorian ways. Toss some general shade at the pacifist New Mandalorians and I should be on my way in. Offer to fund Death Watch with some of my own remaining funds and it should be a sure fire way of joining up.

At least… that was the current plan.

And as we all know, no plan survives contact with the enemy, so let's just roll with it at the moment.

/

After R3 sent a message to the estate to make sure we were expected, we were quickly ushered in and allowed an appointment. Being a hero of Naboo tends to open doors it seems.

Wearing my leather jacket, a nice white button up shirt, what I assumed was dress pants, and a pair of boots, I walk through the halls of Pre Vizsla's estate backed by two of Vizsla's guards before we walk into what looks like some sort of throne room. The guards didn't look like regular Mandalorians though, or at the least… they didn't wear the armor. Just regular, if nice, clothes and a pair of blasters at their hip.

I decided that wearing any visible weapons would probably be a bad idea in practice, so I left most of my weapons on my ship. My Snubble Special however was securely holstered in my jacket on the off chance I needed it.

Not that it would do much good. I'd probably be dead before I could draw the damn thing.

I just hope it doesn't come to that.

"Aah! You must be Mr. Warren, The hero of Naboo they've been calling you." Vizsla says with a smile as he dismisses whoever he was talking to. Holy shit, I had forgotten he was voiced by Jon Favreau. That voice was not what I was expecting.

"All exaggerations, trust me on that." I reply with a smile as I looked around the room a bit.

"I admit, I am a touch surprised. I haven't received any word from the Queen of Naboo about your arrival, so either this is for a personal matter, or something more perhaps? Regardless, I am a bit curious as to what you are doing here on Concordia when most of what you seek could be found on Mandalore."

Glancing at the guards around us, I put on a light smile as I turn back to Vizsla.

"To be honest with you, I am very interested in Mandalorean culture. The armor, the code of honor, the language, rallying to a leaders cause." I explain as I pace back and forth, watching as he stands close to his pseudo throne. "The history of your people always called to me. I originate from Tattooine, and the people there… They are ruled by gangsters, thugs, fear. I was ruled by fear more often than not during my time on the planet. I wish to better myself, to become stronger, to become a true Mandalorian."

Glancing at him to make sure I hadn't said the wrong thing, I continued.

"So I did some more research, the clans, the houses, etc." I explain as I continue pacing. Vizsla was watching me, one hand rubbing his chin in thought. "And I came across House Vizsla, one of the most prominent houses is Mandalorian history. Your ancestors united Mandalore, your ancestor, Tarre Vizsla was the first and only Mandalorian Jedi, your clan, your House, is incredible. So I thought, who better to go to than the head of House Vizsla himself?"

Rubbing his chin in thought, Pre starts to nod as a smirk starts to show on his face.

"I do think we can come to an arrangement."

/

Darth Sidious was not pleased.

The Jedi survived, his apprentice captured, Nute Gunray under arrest, Anakin Skywalker training under the tutelage of the Maverick, Jinn?

Nothing was going according to plan. Nothing!

Though, not all was lost. His whispers towards the Jedi Master Sifo Dyas had forced the Jedi to leave the Jedi Order and head to Kamino in order to create a clone army of the Republic. Once the clones are fully grown, in about ten years time thanks to the genetic modifications, the galaxy will be ready for the war he would be instigating. All it would take is a little push in the right direction for it all to come tumbling down, making way for his Galactic Empire.

But, in the meantime, while he waits for the construction of the Republics Military Force, he would need to prepare. Skywalker would need to be contacted, make him believe that the good Chancellor was nothing more than a wise old man who wanted nothing more than to help the freed slave…

But, Jinn would prove a problem. The Maverick is more accepting, more free than Kenobi. Had Jinn died and Kenobi survived, Kenobi would have been the perfect option to train the young Skywalker. With Kenobi's by the rules nature and unbending loyalty to the Jedi Order… Skywalker's experiences as a slave would have put them at odds. Even if it had been any other Jedi, such as Yoda himself, Windu, or any number of other Jedi would have been the better course than Jinn.

Now though, Sidious wasn't certain he would be given the same chance with Skywalker as he had hoped.

The Sith Lord smiled as he tweaked his plans here and there, counting in certain variables before discarding them to start anew.

Perhaps Sidious would need to continue whispering into the ear of Master Dooku… While Jinn's death would have seen Dooku running towards the Dark Side, it may be possible to corrupt the aging Jedi. If nothing else, he would prove a useful pawn further down the road.

More influential than Maul at least…

Of course, Maul wasn't useless. The animal had his purposes from time to time, and if Dooku wouldn't fall to the Dark Side, it should be relatively simple to implant Maul as the figurehead of the opposing faction in the inevitable conflict. He would need to further train his apprentice in the subtle arts of etiquette and leadership, a difficult task considering his apprentices temper, but necessary should his plans with Dooku fall through.

Regardless, Darth Sidious would play both sides of the conflict and emerge the victor, the rubble and wreckage of the conflict will become his Empire.

And he wouldn't let anything or anyone get in his way.

/

Maul was not pleased.

How dare the Bounty Hunter interfere with his plans! Had he not, Maul would not be on this Force Forsaken ship! He would have killed the Jedi and then slayed the Queen, just as his Master had planned.

But, not was all lost. He had escaped the Republic prisoners transport and slayed all who opposed him. The Jedi were foolish for not sending more of their number besides the weakling, Depa Billaba, but Maul would not complain of his fortune when it benefited him.

His master would not be pleased at his failure, and despite knowing that the pirates were hired by his Master, he feared what his Master would do once Maul returned. Would he torture Maul with lightning? Or was he freed only to find his death at the hands of his Master?

Regardless of what was to happen, Maul had a duty to his Master to return, and should his Master spare him, Maul would find the Bounty Hunter and kill him.

He would not tell his master of the Bounty Hunter, at least… not yet. Revenge was his, and he would not allow his Master to take that from him. When he found the Bounty Hunter, he would tear him apart, piece by piece, until Maul had his skull.

It was a shame the Jedi didn't transport his lightsaber alongside him in the transport, one of the jedi's wiser decisions despite the problems it caused him, he would have to do with the Jedi's saber until he could build himself a new one…

Sitting in the captains seat of the pirates vessel, he plotted a course to his Masters secret base of operations before activating the Hyperdrive. Scowling in disgust as he took off, he quickly set the ship on autopilot as he removed himself from the seat to look at the suspicious wet stain on the seat he had just vacated.

Truly, he hoped his master would return his ship to him once he arrived… If the Republic Prison Transport wasn't compromised by the Pirates attack, he would have used that one for certain, but out of necessity, he was forced to use this flying pile of filth.

He would make the Bounty Hunter pay, even if it were the last thing he did.

/

And scene?

I swear to god, the next chap will be much longer. I've been sick the last week and this is all my addled brain could spit out.

Also, the main reason that Pre Vizsla is so accepting of our main character is due to it being the early years (Relatively) in Death Watch, and he is looking for willing members. So, this random dude just pops in and says he wants to become a Mandalorian? Hell yeah! Let's sign him up.

Also, for those who didn't catch the name drop, Depa Billiba was actually Kanan Jarrus's old Master, so in this timeline, Jarrus is gonna have a different Master. So, just by capturing Maul as opposed to killing him, he's fucked some shit up.

Anyway, next chapter is a bit of a timeskip. Gonna focus on Alan's training as a Mandalorian and some of the stuff there, also gonna have him do a few Bounty Hunter contracts here and there. Honestly though, most of my stories have a mind of their own, so who the fuck knows. I don't.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this short chapter. Next chap, as stated above, Time Skip, Mando Training, Bounty Hunter shit, etc.

Adios.

The Nameless Scribe.


	6. I Meet Some Friends

Chapter 6

/

Breaking into the Scourge's main facility was relatively simple with my new training.

I should probably explain what's going on.

According to Vizsla, the last five years of training had been leading me up to this day. Every broken bone, every scar, every bruise, and every painful memory has been leading me up to this moment.

Taking out the leader of a Pirate gang because he pissed Pre Vizsla off once over something I didn't care to remember, though judging from his face as he ranted, it was something big.

Regardless, It had been five years since the Battle of Naboo, and since then I had learned much, like how Mandalorian Drill sergeants go to hell in order to teach Satan about torture, I mean… training.

In all seriousness however, I was very glad I had trained under the Mandalorians, as if I hadn't, I would probably be dead by now. As it stands, with my newfound skills, armor, and variety of weapons, I was a force to be reckoned with.

At least, compared to anyone who wasn't a Force User or wasn't Mandalorian.

Hence why Vizsla sent me here in order to finally become a True Mandalorian.

His words, not mine.

On the bright side, my mission was relatively simple. Break into the Pirate's base, find the Trandoshan named Nukks, kill Nukks, then get the hell out of dodge. At that point, according to Vizsla, I would be considered a legitimate Mandalorian.

Not that I really trusted Vizsla, but it wasn't like I could refuse.

Jumping out of _The Bad Idea_'s cargo hold, I free fall for a short period as R3 pilots the YV-666 away to the rendezvous location. Once I hit a certain elevation, I activate my jetpack and fly down through Elrood's cloudy atmosphere before landing on the roof of Nukks' private villa.

The villa itself was decently sized with domed buildings and gold, blue, and white colorings. The entire courtyard was covered in the planets fauna and greenery, with ornate fountains, nice pathways, and other such shows of wealth. The entire area was also covered in guards of numerous species, Trandoshans, Houk, Rodians, Humans, and several others I couldn't recognize from first glance.

Sliding off the Dome of the villa, I use my jetpack to land carefully on a ledge outside a window that lead to the upper floors. Thank the Force that the idiot didn't want to spend the extra money on Transparisteel, otherwise I'd have to find another way in.

I was trying to be at least semi stealthy during this mission after all.

As soon as the thought went through my head, an alarm suddenly started blaring through the facility.

"_WARNING! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER SPOTTED AT THE SOUTH ENTRANCE!"_

That… wasn't me?

Taking my luck for what it was worth, I elbow the glass as hard as I could, shattering it and opening an entrance.

Slipping through, I glance out one of the windows as I passed and watched the guards rush to the Southern entrance of the facility, leaving the bare minimum for me to deal with on my way to Nukks' office.

That being said, I still wanted some level of stealth.

Slipping into the nearest doorway to avoid some guards, I watch through the crack as they slowly walk by before jerking as I hear something rustle from behind me.

Turning to the noise, I see a large computer terminal in the middle of the room with monitors lining the far wall. At the main computer terminal was what looked to be a Togruta female with blue skin and white Lekku and Montrals with blue markings.

She was wearing a uniform similar to the guards outside, with olive green cargo pants and an orange shirt, though it seems as if the uniform was several sizes too big for her as the shirt kept slipping off one shoulder before she would frustratingly fix it and the pants were being held up by what looked to be a piece of rope turned into a makeshift belt.

Something tells me she wasn't exactly with the guys outside.

That being said, I do draw one of my blasters.

Immediately, I could see one of her Lekku twitch before she turned to face me.

Oh right, Togruta's can echolocate. Forgot that tidbit.

Eyes widening in fright or shock, she immediately raises her hands in surrender, giving me the chance to look her over.

She looked to be in her early to mid twenties, and looked to be scared. Her white facial markings seemed to cup her face like a strap almost, leaving her face exposed but going over her forehead and meeting in the middle with a diamond like shape.

"Please don't shoot!" She begs as she steps away from the terminal after I gesture with my gun. Walking around the terminal, I see a Houk knocked out on the floor wearing nothing but his underwear.

"I assume you did this?" I ask as I gesture at the alien.

"Umm… maybe? Which answer has me not getting shot?"

Chuckling, I put my blaster away before sticking a hand out to shake.

"If you did that, then we're on the same side for now. I'm going to assume it was you who activated the Intruder Alert?"

After a moment of staring at my hand, she cautiously takes it and shakes it as she nods.

Heading back to the door, I peak outside. Seeing no guards, I turn back to the unnamed Togruta.

"So, what's a Mandalorian doing here?" she asks after a moment as I glance over the various monitors to find my target.

"Here to kill Nukks. My employer crossed paths with him a while back and got offended or something." I reply as I find the Trandoshan in question and note that the guards were slowly leaving the southern entrance and returning to their posts. "How about you?"

"I was one of Nukks' slave girls… But I created a device that could detect the slave chip in a person and deactivate it, so right now I'm trying to escape." She answers as she adjusts her shirt again.

"I'm assuming you have no reason to mourn Nukks if I kill him?" I ask as I peak out the door again.

"None." She growls a little.

"Good. I need someone to get me to him, I assume you don't have a ship?" At her nod, I continue. "You can hitch a ride with me if you can help me get to Nukks. I can take care of the rest. You in?"

Staring at my hand, she doesn't seem to move for a few minutes. Glancing at the monitors, I notice my window of opportunity is quickly closing.

"Look, lady. I know this is probably a lot to ask, but could you maybe hurry up? We're about to be swarmed by guards, and I'd rather not fight my way out if I don't have to."

Glancing at the screens and seeing what I meant, she grabbed my hand and shook it.

"Fine, but promise that after you kill Nukks, you'll help me free one of his personal prisoners." She asks. "Or else I won't lead you to him."

"Fine, yeah, whatever. I'll help. Now can we go please? The guards are almost here."

Slipping through the halls, we barely avoid capture several times by slipping into rooms just before the guards spotted us or by taking the guards out before they could do anything to us.

I could have done all this in a blaze of glory, slaughtering them all quite easily, but that would have also alerted Nukks of my arrival and made my job more difficult.

Not that it wasn't getting steadily more annoying considering my tagalong had conditions, but I could at least work with that.

Speaking of…

"So, what's your name?" I ask as we slip up the stairs to the highest level of the villa, narrowly avoiding a Houk guard walking the halls.

"Ashla." She replies. "Ashla Vi. And what should I be calling you?"

"Atin Kryze." I answer with my Mandalorian name as I shoot the Houk with a pair of sedative darts.

Turns out, becoming Mandalorian involves ditching your old name and life in order to become new, That and a clan needed to adopt you. Considering Bo-Katan was one of my trainers and we happened to get pretty close, she offered and I accepted.

"We're here." She whispers as she points to the door of Nukks office.

"Good."

kicking the door open, I point my blaster at where he should have been only to find nothing.

"_Haar'chak!"_ I curse. "Where did he go?"

Running into the room, Ashla slips into the office chair and starts fiddling with the buttons, pulling up the holonet and some live security feed.

"It looks like he went to check on the slaves. If we hurry, we can catch him by the time he gets to the slave pins!" She answers before she pulls out a small device and plugs it into a terminal.

"What are you doing?" I ask her. "The longer we wait, the more time he has to get away."

"Gimme a second." She mutters as she readjusts her stolen shirt to cover her shoulder again. "I'm transferring all of Nukks' bank info to this beauty, it will let me access his bank account later so I can transfer his credits elsewhere once he's dead."

"Not bad..." I nod with widened eyes. That could be really useful in the future.

"Thanks..." She says as she squints at the screen in concentration for a moment before grabbing the device and made a beeline for the door. "Done. Good news for you, my friend is in the slave pins, so it'll be a one stop deal before getting the hell off this planet."

"Sounds like a plan." I reply as I peaked out the door to see a trio of guards running to our position. "Looks like stealth is no longer an option..."

Reaching to my belt, I pull out a Thermal Detonator out into the hallway. Immediately they try to scatter, but the narrow halls and crowded space left them little room as the explosive did its job.

"Come on. Let's go get your friend."

Pulling out my blaster, I shoot out the window as more guard run down the hallway. Blasting the door lock to seal it, I grab hold of Ashla by the waist and jump out the window.

Screaming at the suddenness of me jumping out the window, she holds me tight as I activate my jetpack, breaking our fall and letting us land gently. Landing on the grass, I draw my second blaster and hand it to her.

"It's set on stun, so if you see someone who isn't me, shoot them." I say. "The door will slow them down for a while, but I bet they'll call backup. The sooner we're finished, the better."

Glancing at the blaster in her hands for a moment, she nods.

"Right, then lets get moving." She says before she starts leading me towards where I assume the slave pins were.

Luckily we weren't that far from the pins. Unluckily, resistance got heavier the closer and so we were forced to start acting stealthily again if we were to actually get where we needed to go.

The Slave Pins were about a klick away from the main villa, staying out of the way yet keeping them within reach should something happen. The building looked like your stereotypical warehouse, but the front door was mechanically locked.

"You got this?" I ask as I keep a look out. So far the guards hadn't caught up thanks to my stalling trick earlier, but they shouldn't be that far behind us.

"Already finished." She says with a smirk as she unlocks the door.

"You're not half bad." I say impressed. "Come on, let's find your friend."

Walking through the doorway, we see cells lining the walls of the warehouse, just big enough to hold a few slaves per pin, but they were each packed to the brim with barely enough room in each for them to stand or even lie down. They seemed to be stacked behind crates of various goods.

And there in the middle of the room stood Nukks and about a dozen of his guards, waiting for us.

"Lock the doors then free your friend, then free the rest of the prisoners. I'll deal with Nukks." I whisper to her as I make sure my blaster is on full power.

Nodding, she runs behind some of the crates, looking at the cells along the way to find her friend.

Taking aim, I take three shots and down three of Nukks men from around him. Two humans and a Zabrak it looked like. Watching them drop, I stalk forward and pull out a thermal detonator and arm it, my last one until I have a chance to restock, and hurl it at the remaining guards, watching them as they see the bomb and try to scatter only for me to shoot it midair and force them to be knocked on their asses by the impact.

Struggling to get upright and retrieve their guns, they were no match for me or my armor as I simply shoot them all, leaving Nukks for last. Shooting the Trandoshans arms, I grab him by the collar and slam him against one of the crates nearby.

"Who are you!?" He asks me as he tries to struggle from my grasp, his now useless arms barely gripping my wrists as I pin him against the wall. "Please! Who's paying you? I can double the offer, triple it!"

"Call this a personal visit." I answer before I drop him to the ground and point my blaster at his head.

As I prepare to pull the trigger, I hear the telltale sound of a Wookie growl come from behind me. Turning to the roar, I see Ashla and a Wookie coming up from behind me.

"Your friend?" I ask as I look the Wookie over, gun still trained on the wounded Trandoshan. The Wookie had dark brown fur that seemed to lighten up at the elbows towards the hands and at his face. The rest of his fur was almost a dark walnut color. His facial fur was tied in several ponytails close to his face and the fur on the back of his head was pulled into a loose ponytail. It seems as if there were a few unfortunate guards in their way because the Wookie was holding onto a bloody vibroknife and a blaster.

"Yeah, meet Tarkazza. He and I have been friends since his first day here!" She answers as he glares at the whimpering Trandoshan.

Normally Trandoshans are tougher than this, or at the least a bit braver, but faced with an angry Wookie and a Mandalorian pointing a gun at your head? Trandoshans were never the most honorable species to begin with, and unlike the Wookies whom the Trandoshans so love to hunt, they are not all that brave unless the odds are stacked heavily in their favor.

In this case… the odds were stacked in mine.

"Tarkazza… Before I blast this asshole's brain out, do you want to do the honors?" I ask.

It was never a good idea to get between a Wookie and their enemies, or else you may end up their enemy.

And that was never fun.

Roaring for a moment before nodding, he steps forward as I move out of the way and cover the grisly scene from Ashla as Tarkazza picks the Trandoshan up and does what most angry Wookies are known for.

Ripping arms out of sockets.

Ignoring the screams of the Trandoshan, I pause for a moment as I hear the meaty thunk of a body hitting the ground, the screams still prevalent, telling me that Nukks was still alive before a bloody paw patted my shoulder.

Looking up at the Wookie, he nods at me before growling a little at Ashla.

"He says you can finish the job..." She translates, looking a little green around the gills before turning away.

Pointing my gun at Nukks, I shoot him in the head, killing him before turning to the two freed slaves.

"So, now that that's over with, I promised Ashla a free ride to the next spaceport. I've got room for another if you're up for it, Tarkazza."

Glancing at Ashla to make sure I wasn't lying, he turned back to me and warbled an answer before nodding.

"Great." I answer before pressing a button on my wrist. Picking up one of the guards blasters, I take mine back from Ashla and hand her the guards. "We should probably get out of here before more reinforcements arrive. The slaves can handle themselves, and if we're lucky, we can cause a distraction to help them out later. For now though, we need to get going."

Looking back at the freed slaves, I grimace under my helmet… There was no way I could take them with me, I lacked room.

But, maybe they can fight for themselves and offer us a distraction...

"If you know how to use it, take a weapon and prepare for war. Your captors are outside that door, trying to find a way in to make sure you don't escape. If my estimations are right, you have less than five minutes before they break their way through. Their ships are all in the hanger bay, ready and waiting for you to arrive. If you can beat them here, you will have a free shot home." I explain to them. "They've been pushing you around because you didn't have the power to fight back. Well, now you do. Show them what power truly is!"

"But what about our slave chips?" one of the slaves asks.

Glancing at Ashla, she digs through her bag and grabs a small key fob like device and shows me how to work it.

"Raising it above my head, I show the slaves.

"This thing will find them and deactivate your slave chips." I say before handing it off to the slave who asked the question and showing him how it worked.

"We'll try to cause a distraction on our way out, give you guys a chance to break through their defenses." I say before turning to Ashla and Tarkazza.

Gesturing for them to follow, I lead them out through the back of the warehouse, Ashla unlocking the doors after making sure the coast was clear, before we each booked it

Thankfully, most of the resistance was trying to break the warehouse's front door down.

"Aren't we going to cause a distraction?" Ashla asks me as we keep going.

"A distraction is on its way." I answer before pointing at a blur in the sky that my HUD was pointing out.

Suddenly, an N-1 starfighter decloaked and dive bombed the guards, scattering their ranks and taking out a bunch of their number.

"The distraction." I explain before gesturing for them to follow me.

The rest of the trip back to the ship was thankfully pretty quiet, only passing a couple guards on the way before we finally made it back to the ship and took off. R4 arriving just before us in The Crow.

/

After we had taken off, I had been able to slip into my room and talk with Viszla on my personal holocommunicator and tell him of my escapade, leaving out the slight detail pertaining to the Wookie and the Togruta on board. After a short chat that involved him basically telling me to get lost unless Death Watch needed extra help, I reentered the main cabin and looked at my passengers as a plan formed in my mind.

"Welcome to _The Bad Idea."_ I say with a grin under my helmet and my arms outstretched.

"I'm still surprised this pile of junk flies..." Ashla mutters as she looks around a bit. Tarkazza seemed to be raiding my fridge.

Note to self, stock up some more foods at my next stop.

"I admit, it's not much to look at, but underneath its rough exterior is a tank of unrivaled power! At least, for its size." I shrug before I slip into the kitchen while the Wookie eats some stew I had prepared earlier. "Now, I promised the two of you passage to the nearest spaceport, right?"

"Right?" Ashla half asks, half states as she sits in one of the chairs surrounding the holotable right outside the kitchen.

"Do y'all have any plans for when we land?" I ask before taking a sip.

Glancing at one another for a moment, Ashla turns back to me and shakes her head no.

"I didn't think we'd get this far." she shrugs.

"Well, I've been thinking, you're a pretty good slicer." I say as I point at Ashla before turning to Tarkazza. "And you seem like the type of guy who likes a fight."

At their nods, I continue.

"How would the two of you like to work for my as part of my crew?" I ask them as I watch the Wookie dig into my stew. "You'd be payed well, you'd get to see the galaxy, but you'd have to deal with me and my bullshit. So? What do you say?"

"I-…" Ashla starts before pausing and glancing at Tarkazza for guidance.

Rumbling something, he puts a paw on her shoulder and has her stand up before they walk a short distance away so I won't hear.

Though, having droids did have the added benefit of recording and translating any conversations had on my ship.

"_I don't know, Kaz… It seems too good to be true." _I hear through my helmet as I lean on the counter.

"_He fought with us and offered us safe passage to the nearest spaceport..." _Kaz replies, scratching his head. "_He has secrets, but he did save our lives and offered me a chance of revenge against the Trandoshan. I say we accept his offer for now, but if he proves himself untrustworthy, I will do to him what I did to Nukks."_

"_Alright… We'll accept for now, but we'll need to be careful. I don't know if we could take him if he decided to double cross him."_

"_You underestimate me." _The Wookie grins. "_But you are probably right. Come, let's not keep him waiting."_

Walking back over to me, Ashla sticks her hand out to shake.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal." She says as we shake hands.

"Good!" I reply as I remove my helmet. "Now, let's talk salary."

/

With my training out of the way, I was given leeway from Viszla himself to basically do whatever I wanted to as long as it didn't bring any attention to Death Watch.

So, repainting my armor a black and maroon as opposed to the blue and grey Death Watch colors, I did just that.

And by that I mean, I didn't really do much of anything besides preparing, and now that Ashla and Kaz were on my crew, it gave me a bit more leeway and time to look at some of my long term projects and see how they were coming along.

"Watto!" I greet with a smile. "How's business? Are the droids I ordered for you working properly?"

"The protocol droid is working fine, keeping my customers happy while I do business… The Treadwell is a little fragile, but… it does good work." He answers with a shrug. "Why are you calling? You never do social calls… eh?"

"Do you have any word on the Ghostfire crystals then?" I ask, cutting to the chase.

"Ehh… I've sent word out to some of my colleagues about them, but nothing yet…" the Toydarian replies as he scratches his chin. "Maybe if we add in a bit of a reward?"

"First person with information on the crystals gets 5,000 credits. I'll cover it. If they can get us access to a Ghostfire crystal mine, double the offer. Afterwards if we can get the mine in motion, you and I can split the profits of the mine, thirty/seventy with you getting the seventy." I offer the greedy bug. "Those crystals can be worth a small fortune to the right buyer."

"I'll send the word out, but remember! You cover it. I don't have 5,000 credits just lying around, you know." Watto scoffs.

"I know, I said I would didn't I?" I laugh. "Just get me that info, the sooner, the better."

Cutting off the call, I sigh. I really hated working with Watto, but he was an asset I couldn't just ignore. Plus, he's the closest to the Ghostfire crystals and only person who can currently help me find them.

The Ghostfire Crystals, when put in a lightsaber and used as a kyber crystal, make the lightsaber blade nearly invisible and almost completely silent. If I could find a Ghostfire crystal, I'd have the perfect stealth weapon.

I had even been working on a lightsaber hilt, something that was far more difficult that I had first assumed, especially with the add ons I had added to it.

By the time I was done, it would only vaguely look like a Lightsaber hilt, but it would also act as a multi tool. Since most of the lightsabers I've seen this far have been relatively compact, I figured that I could fit in a few extra tools on the offchance I needed an extra hand. For example, on the bottom of the hilt had an Astromech I/O port that would allow me to hack into machines and open doors where I would normally have to wait on R3 or R4 to do it for me.

See, the port works by plugging the bottom end of the saber into the wall socket, afterwards all the readouts and such will be projected using a holoprojector and a wrist mounted datapad so I can manipulate the internal mechanisms of the device I am trying to hack. On top of that, it can also work as a holocommunicator, so that's fun.

All of that will be mounted into the bottom of the hilt and separate from the actual blade components. The actual blade emitter will double as a flashlight and welding tool that can shift out of the way when I want to use it as an actual lightsaber.

The trick now is finding myself a ghostfire crystal to make it a viable lightsaber.

So far all the special components work just fine, but until I have a viable crystal to use, I just have no way of knowing. I was lucky enough to convince Anakin to send me some lightsaber blueprints, but the biggest boon to the Jedi when they build their light sabers were their own force abilities, something I lacked.

On the bright side, even if the lightsaber didn't work, I still had a functioning multitool.

Speaking of Anakin, I should probably visit him again. Once Obi-Wan had finished his trials and become a Knight, Qui-Gon had taken Anakin as his Padawan Learner, something I had hoped would happen since he didn't catch a bad case of dead when he fought Maul. Now that the two of them are a duo, they had been able to go on numerous missions over the years and keep in touch with Anakins mom and Padme thanks to Shmi's position as a Royal Handmaiden.

I try to keep in touch with them as well whenever I can, more or less acting as the annoyingly persistent friend who won't leave you alone. The reasoning behind that is so that I can keep an eye on them and potentially help them where I can, when I can.

For example, a while back, Qui-Gon and Anakin were on a mission to Malastare. I was also on a mission there due to Death Watch. We were able to meet up and I was able to help them on their mission before I finished mine.

All this really does is give them more reasons to trust me.

Regardless, I'll call them later. Right now I need to see another contact about a pair of Mandalorian Crushguants.

"Grakkus!" I grin as his image appeared on the holocommunicator. "How're you doing?"

"HA! Atin! Grakkus was wondering when you would call! Grakkus has good news! An associate of Grakkus has found a pair of Mandalorian Crushguants like you have been asking for, and Grakkus has taken the privilege of buying them for you."

"And I'm to assume it was out of the goodness of your heart?" I sarcastically ask. "How much do I need to pay you?"

"3000 credits." Grakkus replies with a grin.

"3000?" I ask, baffled. "That's bullshit and you know it. The Crushguants can't have been more than 750."

"620 credits, actually." He grins. "But the resources Grakkus had to waste searching for these artifacts…"

"You're full of crap, you know that?" I tell the Hutt. "I'll pay 1000 for the pair."

"Only 1000 credits? Grakkus is hurt… 2750."

"1500."

"2500.

"1500 and a stash of Jedi creds from back when the sith were still a thing?"

"You drive a tough bargain… Very well, we have a deal. Come to Nar Shaddaa and you can have your Crushguants."

"I'll be there in about a week. I have a couple of new crewmates I want you to meet." I tell the Hutt.

"Good, Grakkus will be waiting then."

And with that, he cut the call.

Literally all of my contacts are greedy assholes. Why do they need to be greedy assholes?

On the bright side, Mandalorian Crushguants, while highly illegal, were extremely useful.\

I guess I'm going to Nar Shaddaa.

/

And scene. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Time Skip+New Faces=Interesting?

Next Chapter, Nar Shaddaa. More of Grakkus, Getting our new found crewmates some decent weapons, and then some more stuff!

Thanks!

The Nameless Scribe


	7. Jedi Are Tricky

Chapter 7

/

To 125B: Because Death Watch isn't a publicly known organization. As of this point in the timeline, Death Watch has yet to actually do anything. Therefore nobody outside Death Watch even know he's apart of Death Watch.

/

"Welcome to Nar Shaddaa, home of some of the worst scum and villainy in the galaxy." I say as we fly into one of the many spaceports on the Smuggler's moon. "When we get to Grakkus' Palace, he and I will probably take our conversation to his office. Whatever you do, don't touch anything in his collection. The last person that did that was sent to his arena and forced to fight a Rancor."

"Gotcha… No touching his stuff..." Ashla says mutters. "Why are we here again?"

"Grakkus has something I need, and I offered to buy it off him. Shouldn't take long." I say as I secure my helmet. "Stay close. I wasn't exaggerating when I said the people here are the worst."

Leaving R4 and R3 to take care of the ship while we were gone, we head out towards Hutta Town, home of Grakkus and hopefully to my new Crushguants. The stench of the Smuggler's Moon clinging to us as we avoid the more dangerous looking passerby's.

"So what are Mandalorian Crushguants anyway?" Ashla asks as we walk through the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Kaz growling in curiosity. Now I wish I had brought along one of the droids to act as translator. Another language to learn at least.

"Crushguants are basically a pair of armored gloves made out of Beskar, or Mandalorian Iron to most of the Galaxy. The gloves are made in such a way that they enhance the users grip strength to the point that they could theoretically crush bones, durasteel, and other more durable materials with just their grip. They have since become illegal due to misuse and the fact that the new Mandalorian government deem them too violent."

"So, then… Why do you want a pair?" she asks. "I mean… if they are so dangerous, and illegal to boot, why do you want them?"

"Because they can also block blaster bolts and allow the wearer to hold the blade of a lightsaber for a short period of time. I'm both a Mandalorian and a Bounty Hunter, fighting Jedi isn't an if, its a when. I just prefer to be prepared for when the time comes." I explain as we near Grakkus's palace. "You'll find that while I may hope for the best, I will always prepare for the worst."

At Kaz's and Ashla's nod, I continue."Come, the palace is just ahead. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we can be on our way."

/

As we enter the palace, we are led towards the collection room by four battle droids, each painted with Grakkus's symbol on their chests. A triangle with the two sides not meeting at the top.

As we enter the Collection room, I can hear Ashla gasp as they see the collection for the first time.

The room was massive, easily large enough to fit _The Bad Idea_ and then some. Nearly reaching the ceiling were several statues that portrayed Jedi of old in various stances. Most of which portrayed them as healers or teachers. Off to the side was an older model of a Jedi Starfighter covered in a tarp next to several crates full of old Lightsabers and Holocrons.

I was half tempted to expose Grakkus to the Jedi so they can take him out, mostly so I can take some of this stuff for myself. The lightsabers alone would be helpful towards me finishing up my lightsaber.

That being said, Grakkus was useful right now. Getting him killed or imprisoned probably would limit that usefulness to a certain degree.

"Aah, perfect timing! Come, come… Grakkus is expecting another artifact for his collection!" Grakkus booms as he scuttles over on his mechanical legs before gesturing for one of his underlings to pass me a case. "You're Crushguants, as bargained for."

Handing the underling two small pouches, one of credits and one of the Jed Creds, I take the case and open it, ignoring my companions wide eyed expression as they eyed the room they were in.

Inside the case were a pair of gloves.

Thats it. They didn't look special outside of the black cloth and the silver beskar armor covering the knuckles and fingers.

Otherwise they looked like a pair of work gloves I'd pick up from Home Depot or Lowes.

"Mind if I test them out?" I ask the Hutt as I pull them on. They didn't make me feel stronger, but that may not be how they worked.

Merely gesturing, one of his lackeys brought me a busted Battle Droid that seemed to have a few blaster holes in him.

Grabbing the busted droid by the torso, I simply start squeezing it in my grip. As soon as I started, the torso started crumpling like tissue paper under my grip until two imprints of my grip were clearly visible in the twisted metal.

"Grakkus, I don't say this enough, you are my favorite Hutt." I say with a grin under my helmet as I eye the crushed metal.

"HA! And you are my favorite Bounty Hunter." he laughs. "Now, let us see the newest piece of Grakkus's collection."

As he says that, one of his lackeys run into the room, panting as he skids to a stop in front of Grakkus.

"Sir, there's been a bit of a problem..."

Taking a cautionary step back and carefully gesturing for my new crewmates to do the same, I watch as Grakkus coldly turns to the lackey, glaring at him and making the human seem to shrink into himself.

"What kind of problem?" Grakkus asks as he crosses his arms. "And where is Grakkus's artifact?"

"Well… you see, Sir… That is part of the problem. While the artifact was in transit between the auction house and here, it was stolen..."

With a movement so fast that I almost missed it, Grakkus grabs the thug and hefts him into the air.

"Who dares steal from Grakkus the Hutt!?" He roars at the lackey, his rage visible and somewhat terrifying as Ashla seemed to shrink into herself and step behind Tarkazza. The Wookie on the other hand bared his teeth and seemed to get into a fighting stance as he eyed the giant slug.

Me? I prepped my flamethrower.

Just because the Hutt wasn't mad at us didn't make him any less dangerous, and if he proved a threat, any hint of usefulness he may have will have gone out the window.

"A Jedi, Sir! We were overpowered almost immediately! We didn't stand a chance!" The thug whimpers. "We put a tracker on the Artifact though… we could track her! We could track the Jedi and overpower her!"

Growling, Grakkus tosses the thug to the side before turning towards me.

"100,000 credits for the Artifact, and an extra 50,000 for the Jedi's head." He snarls at me as he clenches his fists.

"100,000 for the Jedi's head. Jedi are tricky bastards." I counter.

"Fine!" he snaps as he glares at the thug who was slowly standing up. Seeing his bosses ire, he quickly runs over and hands me the tracking beacon.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Grakkus." I reply with a nod before I carefully grab Kaz by the arm and lead him and Ashla out of his palace and more importantly, away from the Hutts ire.

"What was that!?" Ashla asks me once we had exited the palace.

"That was Grakkus the Hutt, one of the most dangerous Hutts to work with, but one of the most rewarding if you know how to work him." I reply with a shrug. "He doesn't normally get that testy, but he is obsessed with Jedi Artifacts to an almost insane measure. Now you see why I told you two not to touch anything?"

"How are you so blasé about this!? That Slug looked like he was going to tear us apart and now he wants us to collect his toy and kill a Jedi?" She asks in exasperation as we walk back to the hanger.

Eyeing the setting Sun setting over the horizon as we walk, I grimace. Night time in Nar Shadda normally meant more drunks, and since most of the people here were criminals? That implies more violence.

"How do you even plan on killing a Jedi anyway?"

"Like I said, Grakkus is dangerous to work with, but he pays well and he's relatively trustworthy for a Hutt." I reply as I pick up my pace before grinning under my helmet. "As for killing Jedi, I'm a Mandalorian. Killing Jedi is an integral part of our history."

Huffing in frustration, Ashla remains silent the rest of the walk back to the ship.

/

The trick to fighting Force Users, Jedi and Sith alike, is to plan ahead while also being flexible enough to have several backup plans ready to use at a moments fair.

At the moment, I'm not quite prepared enough to kill a Master or a truly powerful Darth, but your average Jedi or someone like Maul? I had confidence that I possessed at least the baseline skills and equipment necessary to not die.

Which, while a very low bar to set, is still progress considering the last time I fought a Force User, I shot at him with a starfighter.

"So, how exactly do you plan on fighting the Jedi, Mr. Integral Part of our History?" Ashla asks as she crosses her arms and gives me a look that basically translated to 'How big of an idiot are you?'

Next to her, Tarkazza eyed my small armory with interest.

"A Force User often has a base set of abilities and weaponry. Telekinesis, precognition, minor telepathy, heightened endurance, durability, stamina, and reflexes, and obviously, a lightsaber." I explain as I tweak my vambraces. The best part of Mandalorian tech is that its customizable to a certain extent, so I can add and remove certain attachments as I need them. For example, my flamethrower was one of the non customizable options, my dart launcher on the other hand was.

Grabbing a slugthrowing pistol and holding it so they can see, I continue.

"These abilities are their strength, but due to their reliance on them, they can also be made into a weakness. For example, their lightsabers can block blaster bolts. That makes standard blasters basically useless as skilled lightsaber users can return the blaster bolt back at you. A Slugthrower on the other hand can't be blocked as the slug is metal. Instead of blocking it, the bullet would turn to molten slag and pelt the Jedi in question with very hot, liquid metal." I explain before slipping it into my holster. "It won't kill them, but it will hurt like hell, and that can distract them. Besides that, flamethrowers are also a nice option as they can't block it with their lightsabers. Rumor has it that a suitably prepated Jedi could use the Force on the flame, but I honestly have no idea, so until that happens, I'm going to keep using it. Another way to get by their lightsabers are to just shoot them with a very big gun, like a starfighter's blaster canons. I did that once and it completely disarmed the Force User in question."

Picking up a few mines, I clip them on my belt as I explain what I'm doing.

"Explosives are also a good thing to use, especially if you can rig the battlefield beforehand. It gives you the element of surprise and can circumvent their precognition if done correctly. If not, well… depends on the force user. Some of them are spiteful bastards who will throw the explosives back at you if you aren't careful."

"How are you going to avoid their Telekinesis then?" Ashla asks. "You've gone over almost everything else."

"Magnetic boots." I reply. "As long as I'm standing on a metal platform, I'm unmovable except by the stronger Jedi. It is by no means perfect, but it's a start."

"So your plan is to blow him up and try to stay out of distance of his lightsaber?" Ashla asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Pretty much, yeah. Now, if I had some Cortosis weave on my vambraces or a Cortosis sword, I could disable the lightsaber and maybe fight on a more even ground as cortosis causes the lightsaber to short out when it touches the blade. That said, then they'd probably use the force more, so really you'd need a way to keep them from using the force."

Checking over my modified Cycler Rifle, I slightly adjust the scope before putting it back down.

"The only thing I know of that could help on that front are some Ysalamiri lizards from Myrkr. The biggest issue is they have a very firm grip on whatever tree they've decided to call home, and removing them from the tree normally ends in their death, so I'm still working on that."

"You know an awful lot about killing Jedi, Mandalorian or no." Ashla finally says after a moment of silence.

"Jedi aren't the only people in the galaxy who can use the force or wield a lightsaber, and I can assure you, they aren't as nice as the Jedi either. At least with a Jedi, you can play on their sense of fairness and mercy, with the other groups? They'd kill you as soon as you lose your usefulness." I explain as I store everything back where it needed to go. This was a teaching moment. If they were to stay my crewmates, they would need to learn how to survive, just as I had. "I may be paranoid, but I'd rather be prepared for an eventuality that'll never happen than be unprepared for an eventuality that will."

Hearing a whistle from the direction of the elevator, I turn to see R3.

"You've found out where our Jedi Friend is hiding out?" I ask the droid. Once I received a confirmation whistle, I nod. "Good, take us to them, in the meantime, we need a plan of attack."

And with that, we plan on how to beat a Jedi.

/

Finding the Jedi in question wasn't that hard of a feat, with the Tracking Fob pointing us in the general direction and R3's ability to pinpoint the signal, we were able to track the Jedi to Randon, It was a large business world with crowded bazaars and elegant corporate towers filled to the brim with merchants and traders of all walks of life.

In essence, it was Nar Shaddaa's legal cousin.

And it was the perfect place to hide.

Fortunately for me, I had R3 at my side.

And Tarkazza and Ashla as well, but they weren't the ones tracking the bounty.

Finding the Jedi's ship was a simple matter of R3 pulling up the arrival and departure logs of the space port we were currently residing in and finding out which one's paperwork was sped through the fastest. Unless you were Jedi or had significant pull in upper management, you'd never be able to get in and out as fast as them.

Even if you had a bribe ready like me, it would still take a bit longer than a Jedi.

So it was relatively easy to find the Jedi's ship, and breaking into the hanger their ship was stored in was also a relatively easy task.

A relatively easy task that quickly became much harder as the Jedi in question stepped off the ship and faced me one I got within thirty feet of the ship, twin curved lightsabers ignited as the emerald blades hummed with energy.

"I thought you said she left her ship!" I whispered at the astromech through my helmets comms. Receiving an apologetic whistle in return, I just sigh as I face the Jedi. That droid better be happy that he's safe back on the ship.

"Turn back, Bounty Hunter, while you still can." The Jedi warns as she points one of her lightsabers at me as she walks down the ramp.

She reminded me of a cobra for some reason, the green ankle length skirt, the green form fitting top that looked to be made out of armored weave, the green armored sleeves she wore.

Maybe it was all the green, because she even had green lipstick.

Her hair was pulled back into a bun, held together by a pair of sticks, and her eyes, green of course, eyed me with a will of steely determination.

She would take no shit and she would take me down if the need arose.

"You know, I would, but there's a lot of money resting on the safe retrieval of that little artifact you stole." I shrug as I slowly unclipped my holster, preparing to draw my gun. "So, before we get started, can I at least know the name of the beautiful woman in between me and my prize?"

"Keelyvine Reus." She replies simply as she gets into an opening stance. "And you will regret not taking me up on my offer."

"I've been told I'll regret worse things than that." I reply before I grab a flash bang from my bandoleer and throw it at the ground between us. As the ear rattling boom echoes through the hanger, my helmet protecting me from the worst of the flash and bang, I draw my pistol and start firing at the Jedi.

The first shot went a bit wide, but the next two drove home and would have hit Reus had she not blocked with her lightsabers, though the molten metal did splash and burn her cheek.

Gasping in pain, she leaps out of the way of my fourth shot and lands on the roof of her ship before leaping back off to avoid my fifth shot. Landing in a crouch, she reaches out and rips my pistol from my grasp, throwing it aside before she sprints at me full speed.

"Shit." I mutter as I take aim and let loose with my flame thrower. Instead of stopping or even attempting to block though, she merely leaps over the wall of flame and me, landing behind me and ready to fight as she strikes at my neck with one saber before striking at my knee with the other.

Barely avoiding her attacks, I use my jetpack to launch myself backwards and away from her flurry of strikes.

"For a Jedi, you're pretty aggressive." I comment as I fly up and land on top of her ship. "Tell me, am I just that aggravating or are you always like this?"

"I was assigned to retrieve the Holocron and return it to the Jedi Temple, I will not allow a Bounty Hunter to stand in my way." She replies before she lunges at me from her spot on the ground.

Blocking her strikes with my Beskar Vambraces, I duck under one of her strikes before catching her lightsaber by the blade.

Praise to whoever designed Mandalorian Crushguants to be capable of grabbing the blade of a lightsaber.

Grabbing the other Lightsaber as it came towards my left side, I pull her forward and headbutt her as hard as I could, stunning her and forcing her to loosen her grip on her lightsabers. Spartan kicking her in the chest, she finally releases the lightsabers and falls off the roof of her ship.

Flipping the sabers around, I deactivate them before clipping them to my belt and hopping down to follow.

"Uugghh..." She groans as she attempts to get up from where she landed, rather uncomfortably, on her back.

Pointing a vambrace at her, I shoot her with a stun dart and watch as she collapses. She's gonna have a headache when she wakes up…

Now, to get that holocron.

/

"Your artifact, as promised." I say as I step off the loading ramp of my ship, Holocron in hand and a single lightsaber clipped to my belt. "And proof of the Jedi's death, for the bonus."

Glancing at the saber on my belt, Grakkus raises an eyebrow before gesturing for one of his entourage to grab the Holocron

"My men said that the thief wielded two lightsabers. Where is the second?" He asks.

"Destroyed in battle. Like I said, the Jedi was tricky, so I had to throw her off, destroying one of her weapons was one of the only ways I could think of in such short notice." I reply as I hand him the lightsaber. "Be careful, it was damaged in the fight, so I wouldn't activate it until you can get it fixed."

"Very well, your reward, as promised." He finally says before gesturing to one of his men. The man in question quickly jogged forward and handed me a datapad so that I could fill out the necessary information.

After a moment and some tapping on the datapad, I hand it back over to the lackey and nod towards Grakkus.

"If you need me, you know how to get a hold of me." I say before turning around and reentering my ship.

"We're done here, set a course to Tattooine." I order once the door closes. As soon as the words left my mouth, the engines started up and we take off.

"Any calls from our friend?" I ask after entering the top deck of the ship. Ashla was playing a mach of Sabacc against R4 while Tarkazza watched, R3 was piloting.

"Not yet, though I'm still wondering why you thought giving a holocomm to a Jedi we were supposed to kill was a good idea." Ashla replies with a glance in my direction.

"I make it a point to not kill Jedi unless I have to, and it tends to be useful to have a few of them on call should you need something." I reply with a shrug as I sit down by R4.

"You stole her lightsabers, one of which you gave to Grakkus after you removed that green crystal thing, you stole back the artifact that she stole from Grakkus to give to the Jedi, and you kicked her ass. Something tells me that the next time the two of you meet, it won't be on friendly terms." She points out.

"Point, but I'm hoping by the time we next meet, I'll be a little more prepared to deal with Jedi or any other Force Using Sects out there." I say. "It's part of why we're heading to Tattooine."

"Why, is a Jedi's weakness sand?"

"Depends on the Jedi, but no. A business partner is looking for something on my behalf. I also have a few hundred scanning droids going through the galaxy searching for specific locations and items." I answer as they finish their game. R4 won this round, so I pulled up a chair so to speak and started playing myself.

"_What kind of items?" _Tarkazza asks. His voice translating through my helmet.

"Lightsaber Crystals, specific ships, armor, and weaponry from the Old Republic, and stuff like that. It doesn't sound like much, but in the end, most of this stuff is worth it." I say as I we each get a card.

"Lightsaber Crystals? Like the green thing you removed from the Jedi's lightsaber?" Ashla asks as she switches one of the cards in her hand with one from the deck.

"Yeah, most lightsabers use what is known as a Kyber crystal, like the one I took from the Jedi. You can also used a Krayt Dragon Pearl and other materials as the focusing crystal, but customarily the Jedi use Kyber Crystals." I explain. "I am looking for certain crystals with unique abilities. Certain Crystals allow the lightsaber blade to spit acid, some make the blade nigh invisible, and some make the blade powerful enough to destroy other lightsaber blades."

"Huh, cool. I just thought it was a storage space and you just wanted the crystal for some jewelry or something." She shrugged before going back to her hand.

Looking at my hand, I realize I hadn't been paying attention as my current hand was 24. Just one over the winning hand.

"God damn it."

/

And scene.

Honestly not sure about this chap. Tarkazza and Ashla seemed to be a bit in the backround and didn't do much, the fight scene was iffy… Idk. Tell me how y'all liked it.

Thanks!

The Nameless Scribe


	8. Grakkus Finds Out

Chapter 8

/

"HA! The Jedi wish to speak with Grakkus?" the muscled Hutt exclaimed in a booming laugh as the holographic image of Mace Windu watches the Hutt. "What is it that is so important to the Jedi that they wish to speak with Grakkus?"

"You recently came into the possession of a Jedi Artifact. We want it back." the Jedi Master replies, his face a cold, impassive glare as he eyes the Hutt.

"Aah, you speak of the holocron Grakkus's Bounty Hunter took from your Jedi's cold, dead, hands?" Grakkus laughs again as he fingers his necklace of lightsabers, fondling the newest addition to his growing collection. "Grakkus thinks the Jedi should try again, maybe this time Grakkus's Bounty Hunter can bring Grakkus your skull? It would make a fine addition to Grakkus's collection! HA!"

"Jedi Knight Keelyvine Reus is perfectly healthy, thank you for asking, though she is a bid upset about her lightsabers. Next time double check your Bounty Hunters work before paying them for a job well done." Windu replies with a sarcastic tone, though his face stayed calm.

"WHAT?" Grakkus roars as his fists slam into the nearest victim, an old battle droid that found itself as a crumpled heap thrown into a wall. "That Jedi is still alive?!"

"I admit that she was a little banged up, the medical droids said she had a concussion, some splash burns across her face and a nasty bruise across her chest, but otherwise she was very much alive when her ship returned to the temple."

With a mighty roar, Grakkus grabs a second battle droid and heaves it at the holoprojector, leaving a heaping pile of scrap in its stead.

Turning to one of his organic henchmen, he orders them over in a growl.

"Find him… Find Atin Kryze and kill him… This embarrassment must not go unpunished." Grakkus growls before turning away, his mechanical legs taking him from his room.

Suddenly, he pauses as turns back to the henchman with a smile plastered all over his face.

"On second thought… Grakkus is in need of a new champion. A Mandalorian would draw a fine crowd..."

With that, Grakkus gestures for the Henchman to follow him as he lays out his plan

/

"Yes, I am perfectly aware of how hot this place is, Tarkazza. I asked you if you wanted to stay on the ship or not, something Ashla took me up on I might add, and you said you wanted to come with." I told the complaining Wookie as R3, Tarkazza, and I headedfrom the hanger to Watto's Shop. "This is entirely your own doing."

Huffing at my general direction, Tarkazza keeps dusting himself every few feet as we walk through the sandy streets of Mos Espa.

Tattooine wasn't necessarily my favorite planet, but it did hold a few gems that kept bringing me back. For example, Watto and his shop. It may be a bit rough around the edges, but it was a semi steady source of income, and thanks to the droids I bought Watto, he doesn't have to spend money on slaves, just the general upkeep of the droids in question.

Another example was the Tattooine Chapter of the Bounty Hunters Guild in Mos Eisley. something I'll be visiting after I finish with Watto. It's been a while since I've done any official work with them, but if Ashla and Kaz were going to go on missions with me, then they needed to start off with a decent mission.

Their first missions shouldn't be to take out a Jedi.

Stepping into the now expanded shop, I glance around the shop for Watto for a moment before stepping up to the counter and the modified 3PO droid manning it.

"Droid, I need to speak with your master." I say as I glance around, the scanners in my helmet picking up various weapons in the shop as I look around.

"Of course, Sir. He will be with you shortly." the dusty grey colored droid answers before it seems to float out from behind the counter to reveal a two triangular treads allowing it to traverse the sand better.

Glad those upgrades actually went through.

After a few minute wait where Tarkazza impatiently shuffles through the shelves and the junk, Watto finally buzzes in.

"What?! What is it?! I was busy!" he shouts as he buzzes in before he notices us. "Aah! Kryze! How are you?"

"Just fine, Watto." I reply before tossing him a small bag of the local currency. "The Crystals?"

"Bah, I still don't know why they are so important..." Watto grumbles as he counts the money. "Your contact is at the Podracer Cantina. You know where it is. You're looking for a Rodian by the name of Reezo."

Saying that, he buzzes back to wherever it is he came from and left us to our own devices.

"_I don't like him." _Tarkazza growls as we exit the store and head towards the Cantina.

"He isn't my favorite person either, but he has contacts and information. For now, he's useful." I reply.

"_And when he isn't useful?" _He asks.

"I mean, it's not like I'm gonna kill him. He may be greedy and a major asshole, but he doesn't deserve death. I'll probably give him full ownership of his store again and just leave. It's not like this place is giving me much in the way of Credits."

"_Then why bother? Couldn't you find these crystals some other way?"_

"I mean, I could, but at the time, Watto was the only person I could trust not to screw me over." I answer before pausing. "Let me rephrase, he would screw me over, but I trust his greed to get me what I want. As long as he was getting his money, he would get me what I wanted."

"_You used his greed against him." _he stated, R3 whistling in agreement.

"I did, and it's done the job pretty well so far." I reply as we get closer to the cantina. "Come on, let's go see this mysterious Reezo."

/

Alrighty there… Umm… bit of a filler, but basically, Watto found someone who knows something about the Ghostfire crystals, Grakkus is pissed, less because of Atin lying but more about the fact he was embarrassed by the jedi. So next chap is Atin getting his hands on some Ghostfire crystals followed by a pissed off Grakkus. So I hope you enjoy!


End file.
